This is not really a biography (J. B. seems to be an unusually unhelpful subject) but an appreciation, encompassing yards and yards of excerpts from Priestley's circa fifty plays, novels and essay collections. It is this quality of energetic engagement on a variety of fronts as well as a disengagement of self from psychical combat that has perhaps caused Priestley's fiction to be shouldered off by the critics as outmoded, in content as in style, and slight. But thanks to Miss Cooper's clipping service, one is treated to some marvellous effortless singing dialogue and a crowd of characters that Dickens-like (Priestley-Cooper hate the comparison) build to solidity before your very eyes. They're generally a likable lot and as their creator says: ". . . novelists and dramatists should like a lot of people. Shakespeare did. Novelists today hate everybody." Miss Cooper, after a chronological examination, but no real evaluation, of the oeuvre, discusses his intrinsic views on nationalism and religion — he opts for an England becoming, and as for religion: ". . . man lives under God in a great mystery." Although adoring, she wisely limns J. B. as a "giant" rather than a genius and this is a young celebration of another Old Party.
Pub Date: April 1, 1971
ISBN: 0434142913
Page Count: -
Publisher: Harper & Row
Review Posted Online: Oct. 27, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1971
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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