Why Can't You Unscramble an Egg?

By Vicki Cobb

Book Overview

Why do images of entertainers abound in European literature and art since Romanticism? From Baudelaire to Picasso, from Daumier to Fellini, mimes, clowns, aerialists, and jesters recur in major works by continental artists. In Art as Spectacle , Naomi Ritter investigates this phenomenon and offers explanations that transcend the array of works discussed. Her analysis implies much about the triangle of creator, work, and audience that inevitably controls art. Although a broadly comparative study underlies Art as Spectacle, the book focuses mainly on examples from Germany and France. Three areas of argument-identification, primitivism, and transcendence-account for the performer's ubiquity in the arts of the last two centuries. Ritter shows that writers, painters, choreographers, and filmmakers have persistently identified with the entertainer, whose roots lie in primitive ritual: a source of all art. Accordingly, the artist also sees the player as morally or spiritually elevated. With three chapters on literature, a chapter comparing poetry to painting, and a chapter each on dance, the visual arts, and film, Art as Spectacle offers unprecedented scope on a compelling topic in comparative studies. By integrating such varied material into an original commentary on the image of the entertainers, this book provides an invaluable resource for all the disciplines it touches.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0525672931
• ISBN13: 9780525672937
• Release Date: February 1990
• Publisher: Dutton Books for Young Readers
• Length: 4 Pages
• Weight: 0.20 lbs.
• Age Range: 9 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 4 to 7

Customer Reviews

Science Questions + Easy Experiements = Tons of Fun

Vicki Cobb is the reigning queen of the fun-with-science genre. From Bet You Can and Bet You Can't to Science Experiments You Can Eat, Ms. Cobb dependably offers easy experiments that will spark the scientist in everyone. However, measured by her usual standard, Why Can't You Unscramble an Egg? is a little heavy on explanation and exposition and somewhat light on experiments. Nevertheless, Ms. Cobb understands her audience very well, peppering her text with enough "Eww, Gross... tell me more" to keep her readers engaged and excited to know what's coming next. (For example, a section on air pressure concludes with, "If you were suddenly put in a vacuum, your inside pressure would make you swell up until you burst like a balloon.") Ted Enik's humorous illustrations enhance the text, and together they clearly and successfully answer many of the "not so dumb questions about matter," like Why does an Ice Cube Float? and Why Isn't the Earth Egg-shaped or a Cube?

GREAT (OOP) BOOK!

I ENJOYED THIS MYSELF... HAD FUN READING IT TO MY KIDS... NEAT EXPLANATIONS... COULD HAVE HAD BETTER ILLUSTRATIONS... BUT IS NOW ONE OF OUR FAV'S