"A Beast in the Jungle"

[quasimodo1]

For lovers of Henry James, this is the title of a critical essay (three pages) to be published in the Sunday NYTimes Book Review section. Author of the critique (also essay and analytical biography) is David Leavitt, staff writer. It specifically assays the new book "Henry James, The Mature Master" by Sheldon M. Novick. Illustrated, 616pp, Random House, 35.00. Very useful to any student or teacher of this master. link.............................................h ttp://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/23/books/review/Leavitt2-t.html?_r=1&8bu&emc=bu&oref=slogin {quasimodo1}

[quasimodo1]

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/23/books/review/Weiland-t.html?8bu&emc=bu ......PSYCHOGEOGRAPHY

Disentangling the Modern Conundrum of Psyche and Place.

By Will Self. Illustrated by Ralph Steadman.

255 pages. Bloomsbury. $34.95.

[quasimodo1]

“Her Last Death” recounts “the true calamity of being daughter to this mother,” and the wonder of this memoir is that the author survived her traumatic childhood and found a way of turning her memories into a fiercely observed, fluently written book that captures the chaos and confusions of her youth, the daughter of an unpredictable pill-and-coke addicted mother and a brilliant, self-absorbed father, neither of whom had the faintest idea of how to be a parent.

HER LAST DEATH

A Memoir

By Susanna Sonnenberg

273 pages. Scribner. $24.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/21/books/21book.html?ref=books {great photo of the author}

[quasimodo1]

WINDCATCHER

New and Selected Poems, 1964-2006.

By Breyten Breytenbach.

167 pp. Harcourt. $23.
Pursued, captured and imprisoned by the apartheid South African government, Breytenbach has had so many different addresses and names that often he himself seems to wonder who he is. Perhaps that is why his writings take the form of a voice you hear over your shoulder; you turn to one of the poems in this new collection and read, “I saw couples kissing in doorways,” and wonder, What couples, what doorways, in what city, when?
{review to be in this Sunday's book review section}
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/23/books/review/Kirby-t.html?8bu&emc=bu

[Nightshade]

Umm so this is actually a list of reviews not really about the Beast in the jungle is it?
Rats! and I do love that story...http://www.websmileys.com/sm/sad/981.gif

[quasimodo1]

To Nightshade: Intended the thread to be about James but then these other fascinating reviews popped up and I didn't want to start a bunch of threads with marginal interest. Smiling. quasi

[aeroport]

For lovers of Henry James, this is the title of a critical essay (three pages) to be published in the Sunday NYTimes Book Review section. Author of the critique (also essay and analytical biography) is David Leavitt, staff writer. It specifically assays the new book "Henry James, The Mature Master" by Sheldon M. Novick. Illustrated, 616pp, Random House, 35.00. Very useful to any student or teacher of this master. link.............................................h ttp://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/23/books/review/Leavitt2-t.html?_r=1&8bu&emc=bu&oref=slogin {quasimodo1}

Ooh, nice. I'm a small ways into volume 1 of Novick's bio, so this should indeed be useful in the near future. Thanks a lot.