That Mighty Sculptor, Time [Hardcover]

Marguerite Yourcenar (Author), Walter Kaiser (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1992

A collection of essays by the novelist and literary critic takes on such diverse topics as the poet Oppian, Tantrism, the erotic mysticism of the Gita-Govinda, and much more. By the author of The Abyss.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Working with Kaiser, who co-translated her novels ? Alexis and Two Lives and a Dream , Yourcenar (1903-1987) has rendered the nuances of her original French to subtle and profound effect in a work that is poetic and provocative. The title essay takes its name from a poem by Victor Hugo and echoes the theme that unifies all 24 essays included here: the ravages of time are inescapable, and we must make peace with them or perish in anguish. With characteristic breadth of vision, the author views creation and decay as inextricably linked. She writes, "On the day when a statue is finished, its life, in a certain sense, begins"51 and, as this life unfolds and is publicly received, the statue will "bit by bit return . . . to the state of unformed mineral mass out of which its sculptor had taken it."51 In see fix above meditations on art, history and memory, Yourcenar addresses an impressive variety of subjects, from the nature of conversation in the historical novel to the celebration of the Days of the Dead . The book proves to be a beautiful and appropriate memento mori--one that salutes life while it commemorates death, claiming that though lives pass, life does not.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Yourcenar's contributions to the world of letters--as poet, playwright, essayist, translator, novelist, and writer of short stories--have won her France's most prestigious recognition of a writer: election to the Academie Francaise in 1980. Born in Brussels in 1903, Marguerite de Crayencour (her real name) traveled with her father in Europe, then the United States, where she settled (in Maine, on Mount Desert Island) until her death in 1987, having become an American citizen in 1947. Her travels and immense erudition have turned her works into a mix of historical facts, philosophical musings, and well-orchestrated fiction. Indeed, this translation, which brings together essays published in literary journals, constitutes only a sampling of Yourcenar's wide-ranging interests in art, literature, esthetics, and religion. This volume is not a scholarly edition: it has neither an informative introduction, notes, nor a selective bibliography of critical works to help the reader. Rather, it sheds a partial light on a very eclectic and rich corpus--enough to entice the reader to look for more.
- Danielle Mihram, Univ. of Southern California Lib., Los Angeles
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 229 pages
• Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux (T); 1st edition (May 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374273588
• ISBN-13: 978-0374273583
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,307,772 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars All individual lives are accepted defeats, August 10, 2010

By 

Luc REYNAERT (Beernem, Belgium) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: That Mighty Sculptor, Time (Paperback)

This book contains a grand variety of themes: the meaning of Eastern and Christmas, Andalusia and its culture, the Gita-Govinda, the tombs of Jeanne de Vietinghoff, Jacques Masui and Jean Schlumberger, environmental problems and the fate of animals (fur providers or guinea pigs in research).
The essays express the profound pessimism of the author as well as her ferocious attack on the fundamental inhumanity of the masters of the world.

Declaration of Human Rights, Declaration of Animal Rights
It is now nearly two hundred years since the Declaration of Human Rights has been proclaimed. But, what is the result? Since then there has been more and more concentration camps, more massive destruction of human lives and more degradation of the concept of humanity. So, why a Declaration of Animal Rights?

Sexuality
... these eternal oppressing powers of sensuality, the jealousy or greed of the masters and the fathers, who consider their herd of females as a well guarded flock, their aim to reduce the sensual luxury to a pure genital act, and the curious instinct of man to complicate or simplify what is natural.

The nobility of failure
The terrible oppression of the peasants (the Mino dance) by an oligarchy of nobles in Japan during the Genji period (I. Morris - The World of the Shining Prince) stands in sharp contrast with her vision how the nobility, her class, should exercise responsibly their political and social power (`Memoirs of Hadrian').

Highly recommended to all lovers of world literature and to all fans of Marguerite Yourcenar.

5.0 out of 5 stars What a mighty woman the author is!, June 9, 2011

By 

kimitada miwa - See all my reviews

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This review is from: That Mighty Sculptor, Time (Hardcover)

She writes so well. Fascinating. It gave me wings to fly freely to see things down below. Michelangelo was great before she found him in his creation of beautiful male nudes. But even unknown sculptors come alive as great chiseled by aging. I agree with her that the beauty of the aging of stones defeating the aging of the flesh.
In her poetic enthusiasm, she mixed up the age of Gherald Perini the model whose abrupt disappearance made the artist heart-broken so badly. According to her, Gherald had been immortalized as he had been painted on the vault of the Sistine Chapel as a shining young man. The fact is that when the ceiling was done by his brush-works, Perini had been barely born. He could not possibly have modeled for Michelangelo when was doing the master work.