Wide Range of Essays

Before this book, I had never heard of the author. Even though it is rather late in the game, I am delighted to have found her. You can tell by her writing style that she has been doing this for decades, as the words seemed to effortlessly flow, conveying humor and deep insight at turns. I found it immersive in a way that rarely happens for me in nonfiction—I usually reserve that word for my fiction reading—and a genuine pleasure to read. The book is a collection of essays that seem to have been written over the course of her long writing career. She discusses a wide range of topics, from fashion to book reviews to art to feminism. I think her writing was the strongest when discussing children's books, though I enjoyed the other essays as well. Because they are essays, if you are not enjoying your current one, you can easily skip to the next. All in all, I found this to be a great read as the author has a thoughtful mind that has contemplated the world she lives in; she has then eloquently written about her insights.

This is a strange collection of essays that feels like a pulling-together of many disparate odds and ends - there are book reviews, small columns on more general topics, and in memoriam essays for lost friends. Lurie is best when she is writing on children's fiction and fairytale, and these parts of the book are very strong, but the personal opinions are much weaker - they have an antiquated charm, but her opinion on some feminist matters and particularly on the role of post-structuralist theory in academia are somewhat out of date.

Somehow I had never heard of Alison Lurie before—surprising since she has been publishing her work for well over half a century. So happy, then, that with the collection “Words and Worlds,” I finally have the opportunity to experience her sharp wit and intelligent writing. I’m fairly sure that all of these pieces have been published before—in many cases quite a long time ago—so this isn’t the book to turn to for discussions of contemporary issues (although Lurie’s profile of her friend Edward Gorey feels particularly current given the publicity surrounding the recent publication of Mark Dery’s Gorey biography “Born to Be Posthumous”). But if you love great writing about a variety of subjects that normally wouldn’t sound enticing (knitting or zippers, anyone?) but that are fascinating in Lurie’s capable hands, then Words and Worlds is a perfect choice.

Thank you to NetGalley and Delphinium Books for providing me with an ARC of this title in return for my honest review. Recommended.

This turned out to be an interesting book, one that I thought I wasn’t going to enjoy. In fact, I had set it down and wasn’t looking forward to picking it back up. The writing was superb, but the initial articles were not concerning areas I had an interest in learning.

That is, until the author began to talk about authors and books. Suddenly, I was hooked, and the previously mentioned quality of writing took on a different tone. Diving to a deeper level of knowledge of a person’s life can be extremely fascinating, especially if you only know about that writer through his or her work.

Articles on children’s books followed, bringing a different perspective to well-known characters such as Pinocchio and Babar. Even though there have been countless words written about Harry Potter, the visit in this book was captivating because it focused her editorial spotlight from a different angle than most. In fact, all of author Alison Lurie’s entries contain an aspect that sets her articles on a level separate from many other writers. This can easily be recognized in a humorous take on feminism, marriage, and last names (My Name or Yours). Another article on witchcraft contained a myriad of interesting facts, many that I had never seen before.

Because it is collection of previously published work, one can easily finish an article and set the book aside until later. For myself, once I got past the initial couple of articles, I found myself not wanting to stop, or finding ways to return as soon as possible. Recommended. Five stars.

Thank you to Delphinium and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Alison Lurie has always been a favorite of mine, but it wasn't until I started this book of essays that I realized how very widely she has written. With no fear of appearing dated, she goes back to her time at Radcliffe, talks about her early days and how she started writing, gives fascinating insight into well-known fairy/folk tales - all beautifully written (of course) and engaging. Although not all the essays will strike everyone's interests, all of them are worth reading just to hear her voice talking about her life experience. Highly recommended!

Words and Worlds

From Autobiography to Zippers

by Alison Lurie

Delphinium


Biographies & Memoirs , Nonfiction (Adult)

Pub Date 14 May 2019





I am reviewing a copy of Words and World’s through Delphinium and Netgalley:



In this engaging collection of newly published essays. In this book of essays the novelist gathers reflections on the writing life as well as sharing fond recollections of inspiring friends as well as perceptive, playful commentary, ranging from Children’s Litt, to fashion and feminism. In this book she cites her husbands comment to her that “No one asked you to write a novel,” Lurie uses this book to explain why there was never another choice for her, she was meant to write.



Alison Lurie looks back to her life as a college student at Radcliffe in the 1940’s, a time when the world was at war, there was rations and a wall of sexism was up, a well that said Harvard was only for men. In this book Lurie offer a gleeful glimpse into Jonathan Miller’s production of Hamlet, as well as a place for memorializing mentors and close friends like the poet James Merrill, Illustrator Edward Gorey and New York Review Of Books Co-editor Barbara Epstein! In Words and World’s Lurie celebrates the creative artists who both encouraged as well as inspired her!



Alison Lurie is a lifelong devotee Of Children’s Literature who suggests saying no to Narnia, encourages us to revisit The Harry Potter series, she also tells the truth about Pinocchio.





In this book Lurie returns to a favorite subject of hers, that being fashion, she goes on to discuss the symbolism and meaning of Aprons, talks about how the invention of the zipper made dressing both faster as well as sexier and tells of how being abandoned by Vogue at the age of sixty gave her true freedom in fashion.





I found Words and World’s to be an entertaining, well written book, and though I cannot say I agree with every aspect of this book, I do believe it is worthy of five out of five stars!





Happy Reading!

WORDS AND WORLDS
Alison Lurie
Delphinium
225 pp.
$25.00

Alison Lurie has written a lot about—a lot. In her long career, she has to her credit numerous articles, essays, and novels, including FOREIGN AFFAIRS, which won the Pulitzer Prize. She writes engagingly about interesting subjects; this book, subtitled FROM AUTOBIOGRAPHY TO ZIPPERS, represents her skill, catholicity, and longevity emphatically.

Longevity is key here. Lurie doesn’t hesitate to date herself in the service of a subject. She drags us back to THEIR HARVARD, where she was a second-class student from the all-women’s college Radcliffe. She takes no position, but she pointedly cites the many raised female hands that were ignored, and the many professors who ignored them. In a section labeled CLOTHING, she regales us with the history of APRONS, and adds the personal touch of the aprons she wore as a fifties’ housewife. With great abandon, she revels in LIFE AFTER FASHION for her and other women of a certain age, who can wear what they darn well please.

Her writing, however, is not the least dated. A lengthy piece that outlines WHAT HAPPENED IN HAMLET simply sparkles through the years. Her wide-eyed wonder and nose for detail brings a London production of HAMLET alive long after the seventies’ production she covered. Her pieces about people she knew, even if we don’t, all have a marked poignancy, particularly the one about the book artist Edward Gorey. She knew him as Ted.

Particularly pertinent are her essays derived from her depth of knowledge about children’s literature. She brings RAPUNZEL: THE GIRL IN THE TOWER into the #ME TOO era, and takes on Trumpian overtones in HARRY POTTER REVISITED.

Not all of the subjects of these 21 essays may interest you, but what Lurie has to say about them will. Alison Lurie knows how to write, even though someone tells her in an essay YOU DON’T HAVE TO WRITE A NOVEL, or anything else. Fortunately, she didn’t listen then, or now.

An interesting collection of essays reflecting a well lived life exploring literature and language. I was aware of this author through her book on children's literature 'Don't Tell the Grown Ups' and I enjoyed this opportunity to find out more about her other works.

I wasn't familiar with Alison Lurie's writing going into this book but it didn't serve to be a deterrent to enjoy her lucid style. This book, with its varied collection of essays, starts off in somewhat memoir style with chapters from Lurie's early writing life. However, it becomes progressively interesting when Lurie jumps headfirst into topics such as feminism and its roots, the Disneyfication of fairy tales that are often grim otherwise, CS Lewis and his deep-rooted beliefs in Christianity that percolated into the tales of Narnia, Rowling's portrayal of rebellious children in Harry Potter that drew ire from the gatekeepers of Christian and loops the book together with a fabulous few chapters on insights and brief history of fashion (hence the title reference) chapter how fashion shaped our sartorial senses throughout the centuries. It's an easy enough read (I read it on a train) that offers new insights and throws lights on everyday topics. I'm now intrigued by Lurie's writing and this book has prompted me to want to pick up her other books in the days to come.

A very nostalgic collection of essays taken from Lurie’s long writing career. Beautifully written (natch) and lots on writing.

Alison Lurie is a delight to read in this book of essays she is smart observant amusing.Honestly shares her life experiences from her first really starting to write spending time with her baby and nights writing to mixing with actors writers producers on to fashion.Whateever topic the essays drew me in kept me turning the pages.A really interesting entertaining collection of essays.#netgalley #Delphiniumbooks.

Reading this book I’ve realized that it might be the first book of essays I’ve ever read. I was surprised. I read extensively and widely. How can this be? But then again, I never really was too into the idea of someone’s random tangents in a book form. Apparently I might have been missing out, because this was a very enjoyable read, random and tangential as it might have been. I wasn’t familiar with Lurie’s work prior to reading this book, it was a completely random and uncharacteristic Netgalley selection for me, but she’s an accomplished Pulitzer winning author of both fiction and nonfiction, so I did well for my introduction to the world of essays. In this collection Lurie covers a range of subjects from some autobiographical sketches to biographical ones to critical theory (the slowest, densest one, in fact read aloud it proved a perfect sleeping aid to my fiancé) to witches to children’s book to fashion. But the thing is all of these essays were very clever and very interesting and very informative. Without exception. That’s a great statistic for any collection of any sort. My favorites were probably the ones about the classic works of children’s literature. I’m normally not a fan of literary criticism, but these were presented in such a way that they genuinely shed new light on old well known and loved stories and I very much enjoyed the comparisons between different versions i.e original properly disturbing and much darker European ones and the cutified Disney ones. But all of these were such great reads, Lurie has a terrific gift for observational writing. Even the stories on fashion, something of almost no interest to me, fascinated, providing clever historical perspectives on everyday objects. Old people, provided they’ve had interesting, intellectually stimulating lives and have managed to retain their facilities, really are the absolutely best conversationalists and storytellers. So this was in a way like conversations (albeit format restrictingly one sided) with a fascinating, highly intelligent and well spoken 92 year old. Awesome. I’m a fan, Might even be a convert or at least certainly no longer a person who stays away from essay collections. Recommended. Thanks Netgalley.