Structuralist rhetoric tailored to the "little narcissisms, psychological paltrinesses" of a lover. Though he keeps Goethe's Werther at hand like a margin, Barthes mostly forsakes his beloved "pleasure of the text" to dissect any lover's agony down into what he calls "figures" or tropes: jealousy, languor, dependency, crying, dedication, all those shifting states you're washed by daily when in love. As always with Barthes (and translator Howard), there is fearless use of opacity ("The subject who is under the ascendancy of the Image-repertoire 'offers' nothing in the play of the signifier. . .")—no Joan Walsh Anglund trifle this, you may be assured. But it does have its endearing side: Barthes sets out and at least three-quarters succeeds in limning every disquieted symptom of the Sweet Sickness. If you can step around the gummy terminology, you can watch his passionate attempt to coax out what love's not-here-and-not-thereness keeps caged and moaning. Barthes demands that criticism be active; well, here it really sweats. Probing.
Pub Date: Aug. 29, 1978
ISBN: 0374532311
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Hill and Wang/Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Oct. 10, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1978
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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