Luminous writing that reveals a sweeping intelligence and a capacious heart.
Pamuk (Istanbul: Memories in Literature, 2005, etc.), the 2006 Nobel Laureate in Literature, offers an eclectic collection of more than 75 pieces—interviews, acceptance speeches, affecting fiction, memories, meditations and tributes and more.
Although the author composed these wide-ranging pieces over a span of decades (dates would have been helpful), a number of common themes emerge—the conflicts he has experienced as a “Westernized” Turk, the ever-diminishing population of readers of literary fiction, the fragility of life. He writes of the 1999 earthquake that killed 30,000 of his countrymen in mere seconds. He revisits his own routines and strategies as a writer: He writes ten hours a day, prefers absolute solitude and prepares detailed outlines for his fiction, sometimes composing chapters out of sequence. In an essay that recently appeared in the New Yorker, he writes lovingly of his daughter, who gets more enjoyment out of a strange dog than a dramatic scenic view. Periodically, he chides procrustean political authorities—in Turkey and elsewhere (“freedom of thought and expression are universal human rights”)—and describes some dismaying experiences with the American legal system, including an anxiety-ridden testimony against some New York muggers. He counterpoises an eloquent essay about his first visit to the Big Apple in 1986 with repeated references to his profound affection for Istanbul, where he has lived all his life (b. 1952). He tips his cap to numerous other writers who influenced him—Faulkner, Mann, Hemingway, Proust—and makes us wonder: Did he read every major work of fiction in his teens? He even includes a piece right out of an elementary-school teacher’s lesson plan: “Class, look at this drawing and write as if you were one of the figures in it.” The stunning paragraph from his Nobel acceptance speech about why he writes is worth the cover price alone.
Luminous writing that reveals a sweeping intelligence and a capacious heart.Pub Date: Sept. 24, 2007
ISBN: 978-0-307-26675-0
Page Count: 420
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2007
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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