Word: taling
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1930-1939
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Swiftian principle of satiric contrast (Gulliver v. Lilliput)-in this case the white man's burden v. the black man's blessings-this brilliant novel makes mincemeat alike of the noble savage and the noble civilizer. If Authoress Holtby were not so entertaining, her carefully unmoralized tale might cause some well-clothed shudders. Prettily executed and often good for a laugh, Mandoa, Mandoa! may well seem to thoughtful readers a shrewd axe-blow at the roots of an aging tree. Mandoa, an (imaginary') independent country to the west of Abyssinia, was complacently self-sufficient. Small, poor...
...ponder a divorce. Several exciting events disturbed their tropical romance: David nearly drowned trying to rescue a man he despised; Anita's husband shot and blinded himself. But a hurricane made all clear: Author Burt rings down a rosy curtain on his lovers and their island. The tale is entertaining but seriously intended, carefully but (at times) garrulously written. In real life people never talk so wordily to their point; implicit in Author Burt's novels is the conviction that talk is important. A satire on U. S. cultural vices, Entertaining the Islanders is also an earnest plea...
...great city, to bear his name, to keep fresh his memory through the ages, and to pay tribute. The monarch summoned the best architects available, chose a site, subdivided and staked it in the fashion of real-estate visionaries throughout the ages. Had this been the conclusion of the tale Alexander the Great would have taken his place beside Nephew Napoleon and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers as judge of the value of terra firma...
First white man to penetrate the Barren Lands, he counted his expedition a success when he came back alive with a single trophy: a musk-ox head. Grimly faithful diarist, no matter how frost-bitten or near-delirious with tropical fever, he seldom missed recording his daily tale. Fond of good living when he could get it, he learned to thrive on savage fare. Few things turned his stomach. Once in Africa, stooping to drink from a shallow well, he saw in the water beneath his own reflection "the ragged black face of a man, newly murdered...
...writer of humorous Negro dialog. But Author Bradford, not content with his niche, has made manful attempts to emerge. This Side of Jordan, a serious novel, was a far cry from Ol' Man Adam; most readers found it sordid and sinister. John Henry was a little consciously folk-tale-ish. But now, in Kingdom Coming, Author Bradford has turned the trick: neatly sidestepping the hoodoo of black-face minstrel-showmanship and the voodoo of Harlem, he has written a grown-up novel about Negroes of the Old South. Grammy (full name: Telegram) knew that his daddy, Messenger...