A mostly inscrutable collection of personal epiphanies by the late Cuban novelist and belletrist (Cobra, 1974, etc.). Sarduy's preface hardly clarifies the elliptical fragments that follow: ``They are traces left by things ephemeral.... They constitute a record of things thatsometimes by chanceonce put me in touch with something.'' The brief chapters, most only a few pages long, plumb the author's Cuban youth, his departure for Paris in 1960, his adulthood in France, his wide travels before his death from AIDS in 1993. Sarduy describes a few of his scars; a few of his friendships; the banks of the Ganges at Benares; the iconography of the soul's escape from the dying body; archaic stone monoliths in Brittany; a sexual encounter with a stranger; some memories of paintings (including the huge image of Christ's scourging, seen en route to the Louvre atop a truck, that inspired the book's title); and the atmosphere of Tangier. He also mentions the war in Afghanistan and the Mexico City earthquake, taking horror and delight, respectively, in the behaviors of people under duress. Sarduy juxtaposes memories and images but usually doesn't communicate what makes these combinations revelatory to him; worst of all, when he analyzes his epiphanies, he does so using the oblique, tired jargon of semiotics: ``gesture,'' ``hieroglyphic,'' ``simulacra,'' even ``hermeneutic inadequacy.'' The author was, unsurprisingly, a pal of Roland Barthes, who appears here in one of two memoirs about drinking at the CafÇ de Flore (Bloody Marys for Sarduy, black coffee for Barthes). In fact, much of the book seems to revolve around Sarduy's imbibing, which must have been prodigious; in one early passage, he muses revealingly about how he tries to reproduce the intoxication of the creative act through alcohol. Maybe drunkenness had something to do with the failure of this elusive work.
Pub Date: July 10, 1995
ISBN: 1-56279-075-7
Page Count: 176
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 1995
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An enjoyable slice of 20th-century music journalism almost certain to provide something for most readers, no matter one’s...
Music journalist and musician Wald (Talking 'Bout Your Mama: The Dozens, Snaps, and the Deep Roots of Rap, 2014, etc.) focuses on one evening in music history to explain the evolution of contemporary music, especially folk, blues, and rock.
The date of that evening is July 25, 1965, at the Newport Folk Festival, where there was an unbelievably unexpected occurrence: singer/songwriter Bob Dylan, already a living legend in his early 20s, overriding the acoustic music that made him famous in favor of electronically based music, causing reactions ranging from adoration to intense resentment among other musicians, DJs, and record buyers. Dylan has told his own stories (those stories vary because that’s Dylan’s character), and plenty of other music journalists have explored the Dylan phenomenon. What sets Wald's book apart is his laser focus on that one date. The detailed recounting of what did and did not occur on stage and in the audience that night contains contradictory evidence sorted skillfully by the author. He offers a wealth of context; in fact, his account of Dylan's stage appearance does not arrive until 250 pages in. The author cites dozens of sources, well-known and otherwise, but the key storylines, other than Dylan, involve acoustic folk music guru Pete Seeger and the rich history of the Newport festival, a history that had created expectations smashed by Dylan. Furthermore, the appearances on the pages by other musicians—e.g., Joan Baez, the Weaver, Peter, Paul, and Mary, Dave Van Ronk, and Gordon Lightfoot—give the book enough of an expansive feel. Wald's personal knowledge seems encyclopedic, and his endnotes show how he ranged far beyond personal knowledge to produce the book.
An enjoyable slice of 20th-century music journalism almost certain to provide something for most readers, no matter one’s personal feelings about Dylan's music or persona.Pub Date: July 25, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-06-236668-9
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Dey Street/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
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