Newspaper Article

The Kitchen Sink-And Everything Else

Daniel Handler. Daniel Handler is the author of a novel, "The Basic Eight," and a series of children's books written under the name Lemony Snicket

1999

نظرة عامة

'I HAVE READ that you can ripen a persimmon by wrapping it in foil and leaving it in the freezer overnight,\" Cheryl Mendelson writes, \"but I haven't tried this.\" Well, why hasn't she? Mendelson is the author of \"Home Comforts: The Art and Science of Keeping House,\" a new book on the domestic arts, which is astonishing in its scope and, puzzlingly, its complete lack of authority. The author is an attorney, philosophy professor and homemaker, a combination that one might think would make an intriguing book. She herself states that \"Home Comforts\" is about \"how a home works, not how it looks,\" promising a refreshing change from the glut of Martha Stewart and her lacy ilk. But Mendelson doesn't make good on her promise. She apparently has time on her hands to clean food debris out of her can opener using a clean toothbrush, but not to explain why one would want to do this, or to find out, say, if you can in fact ripen a persimmon by wrapping it in foil and leaving it in the \"Home Comforts\" takes a middle ground, comparable to Irma Rombauer's \"Joy of Cooking\" or John Berryman's \"Dream Songs,\" in which the author's tone gives us all the subtext we need. This is a disappointing choice from Mendelson, because domesticity is rooted in murky, primal forces that readers would appreciate having brought to light. All of us keep house, to some extent, but why, or even how, remains an impenetrable mystery. We might scrub every pot but leave dirty socks in a pile. We might painstakingly alphabetize books but leave the umbrella in the entryway where it has been drip-drying for nine days. We will justify our lapses with the excuses of busy lives, feminist pride or the fact that it might in fact rain tomorrow, but we can sense our own disorder, behind closet doors and deep within the crisper. We can sweep it under the rug, but we don't know why, or even, by the end of the paragraph, exactly what \"it\" is.

• الناشر: Newsday LLC
• موضوع: Wallace, David Foster