Although in this unsatisfying biography she describes Alma Mahler as a ``goddess who made a god of each of her lovers,'' Giroud (ed. in chief, L'Express; I Give You My Word, 1974) also depicts the composer's wife as an arrogant, narcissistic woman who played whatever role she was cast in by creative, demanding men who in turn adored her for conforming to their expectations. Mahler was born into the artistic circles of Vienna in 1879. According to Giroud, Gustav, her first husband and 20 years her senior, enslaved her to his domestic needs, denigrated her taste for Nietzsche, Wagner, and Plato, and read Kant to her while she was in labor with the second of their two daughters, who died at age four. Sexually deprived, Alma began an affair with architect Walter Gropius; her husband consulted Freud. After Gustav's death and several other affairs, Mahler married Gropius, with whom, Giroud says, she ``had nothing in common'' except an exquisite daughter who died at age 17. The couple divorced. Although the work of Mahler's creative mates ``bored'' her, as Giroud puts it, Mahler liked the painting of Oskar Kokoschka, with whom she had an affair before, at age 50, marrying Franz Werfel, the author of The Song of Bernadette. There were other lovers, even at age 55, in what Werfel called his wife's ``last fling,'' with a 38-year-old priest. As Werfel's fame declined, Mahler resumed her role as the great composer's widow, or sometimes as the ``widow of the four arts.'' She died in 1964, at age 85. A grudging tribute without insight, compassion, or even evidence of the ``power'' that inspired the love that Mahler supposedly cultivated as an art. Mahler's determination, which allowed her to survive the loss of children and husbands, and her life in prewar Vienna certainly deserve at least as much attention as the amount of benedictine she drank.
Pub Date: March 1, 1992
ISBN: 0-19-816156-5
Page Count: 168
Publisher: Oxford Univ.
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1992
BOOK REVIEW
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
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
