Off The Shelf: Words Worth A Second Look
F i c t i o n
Despite Gravity
By Marjory Wentworth ’80
(Ninety-Six Press)
South Carolina’s poet laureate presents a collection of her poems that consider topics from college students affected by 9/11 to her son’s diagnosis with Asperger’s syndrome. The title poem was written for the dedication of Charleston’s dramatic Cooper River Bridge and in honor of a young Mexican man who died during its construction.
This is the second collection of poems by Marjory Heath Wentworth. She also teaches poetry to cancer patients and writes a poetry column for the Charleston newspaper.
Valentine Surprise
By Corinne Demas
(Walker & Company)
Teach the child in your life about shapes and the days of the week with Corinne Demas’ newest children’s book, Valentine Surprise. Follow a little girl named Lilly as she spends a week trying to make her mother the perfect, heart-shaped valentine. Adults and children will appreciate Lilly’s sweet solution to her valentine challenge.
Corinne Demas teaches English at MHC. She is the author of two collections of short stories, a novel, a memoir, and numerous other children’s books.
Guinevere’s Gift
By Nancy McKenzie ’70
(Knopf )
Marked at birth by a prophecy of greatness, Guinevere, the future wife of legendary King Arthur, is remarkable only for being awkward and tomboyish. But a chance meeting in the forest sets in motion a series of events that force Guinevere to accept the power of the prophecy.
Nancy Affleck McKenzie is the author of several novels based on Arthurian tales. This is her first novel for young adults.
Mariam’s Wedding Gift and Other Offerings
By Louise Thunin-Domaratius ’66
(Lulu Enterprises)
This “coat of many cultures,” which brings together multiculturally themed short stories, some of which were previously published in literary journals, introduces the reader to characters from France, Iran, Iceland, and America who are involved on voyages of conflict and discovery.
Louise Demarest Thunin is also the author of La Nokriyah, a psychological thriller written in French. She has lived in France since graduation.
A Page Out of Life
By Kathleen Reid ’86
(Berkley Trade)
Four women share their lives on paper in Kathleen Reid’s newest novel. Each woman’s life story emerges as the group gathers for meetings of their scrapbook club. The women join to “figure out their futures while artfully commemorating their pasts.” Their interaction illustrates the powerful exchange of ideas that happens when women come together.
Kathleen Flood Reid is also the author of Paris Match. She lives in Richmond, Virginia.
N o n f i c t i o n
Thinking on Screen: Film as Philosophy
By Thomas E. Wartenberg
(Routledge Taylor & Francis)
Film enthusiasts and students of philosophy will find Wartenberg’s book a thought-provoking examination of the ways specific films, including Modern Times, The Matrix, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind address complex philosophical ideas.
Thomas E. Wartenberg is professor of philosophy at MHC and author of Unlikely Couples: Movie Romance as Social Criticism.
Visiting the Shakers 1778–1849
Edited by Glendyne R. Wergland FP’92
(Richard W. Couper Press)
This work brings together ninety-eight accounts by visitors to four Shaker villages in New York and Massachusetts, written by varied guests, including Charles Dickens and Horace Greeley. The entries provide insight into both the Shaker way of life and the key issues and cultural ideals of mainstream society of the time.
Glendyne Beemer Wergland is an independent scholar and author of One Shaker Life: Isaac Newton Youngs, 1793–1865.
The Culture of Obesity in Early and Late Modernity: Body Image in Shakespeare, Jonson, Middleton, and Skelton
By Elena Levy-Navarro ’87
(Palgrave Macmillan)
Elena Levy-Navarro examines the concept of body image in a time before the word “obesity” stigmatized fatness. She argues that major figures such as Shakespeare and Jonson understood that a thin aesthetic consolidated the power of the elite and chose to align themselves with their fat characters, offering a model of defiance that has continued relevance.
Elena Levy-Navarro teaches English at the University of Wisconsin, Whitewater. She has published numerous articles in cultural and literary studies.
Women’s Experimental Cinema: critical frameworks
Edited by Robin Blaetz
(Duke University Press)
This book brings to light the work of fifteen avant-garde women filmmakers, many of whom are currently working. It examines the social and political roots and cultural impact of their films, and touches on the female, feminine, and feminist practices of an exceptional group of artists.
Robin Blaetz is associate professor of film studies at MHC and is also the author of Vision of the Maid: Joan of Arc in American Film and Culture.
American Creation: Triumphs and Tragedies in the Founding of the Republic
By Joseph J. Ellis
(Knopf )
The last quarter of the eighteenth century proved a creative one in American history, and Ellis undertakes in this book to explore both the triumphs and tragedies of the time. Described as “masterly and ironic” by reviewers, the book is one of a number of books by Ellis that takes a fresh approach to America’s early history.
Joseph Ellis, professor of history at MHC, received a Pulitzer Prize in 2000 for Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation.
Rome: Ten Literary Walking Tours
By John Varriano
(Chameleon Books)
In this revised edition of Varriano’s guidebook, first published in 1991, eleven notable writers passionate about Rome treat tourists and armchair travelers alike to their praise of and outrage about it. Virginia Woolf, Oscar Wilde, and Goethe are among those whose insights Varriano includes to help visitors discover the vistas, intimate streets, and timeless monuments of this extraordinary city.
John Varriano is professor of art history at MHC and author, most recently, of Caravaggio: The Art of Realism.
Haunted Halls: Ghostlore of American College Campuses
By Elizabeth Tucker ’70
(University Press of Mississippi)
Though Elizabeth Tucker never heard any ghost stories as a student, she and her friends talked about the spooky atmosphere of the Mandelles, featured on the cover of Haunted Halls. In addition to recounting the myth of MHC’s “Wailing Woman,” who cries to get students’ attention after jumping off a roof, the author includes stories from more than fifty colleges.
Elizabeth Tucker Gould teaches English at Binghamton University. She has also written Campus Legends: A Handbook.
Writing on Stone: Scenes from a Maine Island Life
By Christina Marsden Gillis ’60
(University Press of New England)
As she wanders around Maine’s Gotts Island, Christina Gillis describes the “rock-bound belt” where her family has spent more than forty summers as a source of consolation after the death of her son. She explains how a location of loss is ultimately also a place of life.
Christina Marsden Gillis served for sixteen years as associate director of the Townsend Center for the Humanities at the University of California–Berkeley.
Marie-Thérèse, Child of Terror: The Fate of Marie Antoinette’s Daughter
By Susan Nagel ’76
(Bloomsbury USA)
Marie-Thérèse had large heels to fill as the daughter of one of the most•well-known members of French royalty. Nagel tells the story of Marie Antoinette’s only surviving child, from her childhood years in a revolutionary prison to the throne of Restoration France, where she reigned for just twenty minutes.
Susan Nagel is also the author of Mistress of the Elgin Marbles: a Biography of Mary Nisbet, Countess of Elgin.
Singing with Angels: Liturgy, Music, and Art in the Gradual of Gisela von Kerssenbrock
By Judith H. Oliver ’69
(Brepols Publishers)
Lowered expectations for women date back to medieval times. In this manuscript, Oliver examines the story of Gisela von Kerssenbrock, a nun in the convent of Rulle, Germany, whose artistic work in a gradual (a music book that contains all the chants sung at Mass) is rarely attributed to her because of its high quality. Oliver notes the way the gifted artist interwove words, images, and music with chant texts, and turned musical notes into artistic embellishments.
Judith H. Oliver ’69 is a professor of art history at Colgate University.
C l o s e r L o o k
Liz O’Brien ’83 signs a copy of her new book, Ultramodern: Samuel Marx; Architect, Designer, Art Collector. A leading force in discovering the work of mid-century designers, O’Brien also wrote Class Act: William Haines, Legendary Hollywood Decorator. Her decorative arts gallery on Fifth Avenue in New York specializes in furniture, jewelry, light•ing, and textiles from the 1940s to the 1970s.
Ultramodern
Liz O’Brien ’83 is honoring a man whose accomplished work many have overlooked. Ultramodern: Samuel Marx; Architect, Designer, Art Collector (Pointed Leaf Press) celebrates this architect and furniture designer of the first half of the twentieth century, whose work has been called “quintessentially modern” but grounded in the Beaux-Arts tradition.
Often compared to the architect and designer Frank Lloyd Wright, Marx, who was not wed to one particular style, was hired to design both the exterior and interior of homes, clubs, and hotels, as well as furniture. Chateaux, villas, synagogues, railway cars, tables, andirons, and stairway runners were all part of his repertoire. Unlike Wright, his works were not reproduced and are tough to find. (O’Brien has carried a few in her decorative-arts gallery.)
With more than 200 photographs, O’Brien’s book captures the creativity and unorthodox use of space of Marx’s diverse designs. Some of that can be found at Chicago’s famous restaurant and movie-star hangout, the Pump Room, as well as the rotunda in Manhattan’s Pierre Hotel, which is being renovated. “I hope they keep the beauty of the room,” said O’Brien, whose gallery is a stone’s throw from its domed ceiling and pastoral paintings.— Anindita Dasgupta ’08
Note: Mount Holyoke alumnae and faculty members are prolific authors.
To reduce the lag time between a book’s printing and its mention in the
Quarterly, all books are briefly noted either in the printed Quarterly
or the online edition. The most significant and/or interesting books
will be highlighted in the magazine.
