An excellent exploration of the writing process that will particularly interest those who have toyed with the idea of...
An insightful examination of personal narratives.
In the course of her discussion, teacher and journalist Gornick (The End of the Novel of Love, 1997, etc.) observes, “Thirty years ago people who thought they had a story to tell sat down to write a novel. Today they sit down to write a memoir.” She does not try to explain this shift towards personal narrative, but concentrates instead on what distinguishes a successful memoir from a failed one. Not surprisingly, she holds that a successful author draws upon personal experience to illustrate broader truths, which involves engaging “one’s own part in the situation—that is, one’s own frightened or cowardly or self-deceived part.” To illustrate her point, she has culled a variety of personal essays and memoirs that go beyond a simple recital of events. These range from George Orwell’s well-known “Shooting an Elephant” to Lynn Darling’s “For Better and Worse.” To Gornick’s credit, her selection of narratives provides an invigorating reminder of just how subtle and varied the genre can be. As V.S. Pritchett once put it, “It’s all in the art. You get no credit for living.” Thus, Gornick reads Edward Hoagland’s “The Courage of Turtles” as an exploration of the contours of human intimacy. Likewise, James Baldwin’s “Notes of a Native Son” goes beyond the author’s own experience of racial prejudice to confront the complexities of civil society. In personal narratives, a reader must sense the author engaging his or her life dynamically. It is this quality that triggers the reader’s empathy and transforms the work from the purely personal—the Mommie Dearest syndrome—to the universal.
An excellent exploration of the writing process that will particularly interest those who have toyed with the idea of documenting their own experience.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-374-16733-8
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2001
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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
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