Reviewed Elsewhere
- Reviewed Elsewhere
Contributing reviewers Nell Altizer, Patricia Angley, Lucia Aranda, Alana Bell, Janet Butler, Judith Lütge Coullie, Michael Fassiotto, Lars Fischer, Marie-Christine Garneau, Théo Garneau, Noel Kent, and Barbara Bennett Peterson provided the excerpts for this issue.
Publications reviewed include The Americas, Australian Book Review, Catholic Historical Review, Dissent, Eighteenth-Century Studies, French Review, French Studies, (Toronto) Globe and Mail, The Guardian, Journal of the History of Childhood and Youth, Journal of the History of Philosophy, Journal of Sport History, Mediterranean Quarterly, The New Yorker, New York Review of Books (NYRB), New York Times Book Review (NYTBR), Nineteenth Century French Studies, Opera News, Pacific Historical Review, Presidential Studies Quarterly, Studi Francesi, Times Literary Supplement (TLS), and the Women's Review of Books; and from South Africa, Africa Book Club, Africa Review, African Journal of Psychiatry, ArtSMart, Beeld, Boekebrug, Book Lounge, Die Burger, The Citizen Online, City Press, Classic Feel, Current Writing, Daily Dispatch, Drum, Gorry Bowes Taylor Literary Events, The Independent Online, Jewish Affairs, Journal of Southern African Studies, Literary Tourism, LitNet, Magwood on Books, Mail and Guardian, New Era, New Africa Analysis, Pambazuka News, Pretoria News, Protea Book Blog, Rapport, Scrutiny2, South African Jewish Report, South African Journal of Science, Sowetan, Spectator, Stellenbosch Literary Project (SlipNet), Sunday Independent, Sunday Tribune, Thought Leader, Volksblad: Boeke, Wasafiri, Weekend Post, The Witness, and Wordetc.
Falling Backwards. Jann Arden. Toronto: Knopf Canada, 2011. 288 pp. $32.00.
"Quick Take: Earthy prairie gal makes the improbable move to pop star. Tone: Heartfelt, if scattered, childhood memories, with Arden's trademark wit intact. Best Dish: Arden opens up at length about her brother serving a life sentence in Alberta for first-degree murder. A Wonderful Life?: Still plucky, but is Arden happy? Nobody knows."
Andrew Ryan. Globe and Mail, Dec. 24, 2011: R16. [End Page 198]
Instead of a Book: Letters to a Friend. Diana Athill. London: Granta, 2011. 328 pp. $29.95.
"Diana Athill helped Andre Deutsch establish his eponymous publishing company. . . . After her retirement, however, she wrote six volumes of memoirs . . . which established her as one of the premier memoirists of the English language." This book "contains 30 years of intimate correspondence with U.S. poet Edward Field, covering her final years at Andre Deutsch, her retirement and dedication to her own writing, her growing fame . . . and the perils, and joys, of aging. Instead of a Book is . . . readable, funny and revealing."
"Quick Reads." Globe and Mail, Oct. 29, 2011: R23.
Balzac's Omelette: A Delicious Tour of French Food and Culture with Honoré de Balzac. Anka Muhlstein. New York: Other, 2011. 256 pp. $19.95.
"This effervescent volume celebrates Balzac's use of gastronomy as a literary device and social critique, while also serving as a kind of Zagat guide to nineteenth-century Paris."
The New Yorker, Jan. 2, 2012: 73. "Too often, though, Muhlstein's juicy passages of culinary and social history give way to pure plot summaries, interlarded with page-long quotes from Balzac, largely unexamined. We wonder what her point is and miss an overarching argument that might give the book more shape. To say Balzac was the first to write fictional meals is not enough to support the whole concoction. Still, 'Balzac's Omelette' is worth nibbling on, as prelude or accompaniment to the pièce de résistance, 'The Human Comedy.'" Nancy Kline. NYTBR, Dec. 4, 2011: 66.
Saul Bass: A Life in Film and Design. Jennifer Bass and Pat Kirkham. London: Laurence King, 2011. 424 pp. $75.00.
"These are indeed happy holidays for film-title fans like me, who have spent sleepless nights anticipating the arrival of 'Saul Bass.' . . . Weighing in at 424 pages, with a foreword by Martin Scorsese, this collection is gratifyingly complete. It ought to be: Jennifer Bass is Saul Bass's daughter, and she has unlimited access to the treasures of his archive."
Steven Heller. NYTBR, Dec. 4, 2011: 58.
Baudelaire journaliste, Articles et chroniques. Alain Vaillant. Paris: Garnier Flammarion, 2011. 381 pp. 8.90euros.
This volume gathers the vast number of articles written by Baudelaire. In these articles, one can find the sources of some of...
