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The Primary Colors is Alexander Theroux's collection of essays on the three primary colors: blue, yellow, and red. A fascinating cultural history, these splendid essays extend to the artistic, literary, linguistic, botanical, cinematic, aesthetic, religious, scientific, culinary, climatological, and emotional dimensions of each color. Humorous, highly readable, and anecdotal, the book is virtually encyclopedic in aim. There is poetry here; there is also song, fable, opinion, literary show more criticism, gossip, history, and fascinating fact - a fund of curiosa, gleanings of a witty and penetrating mind. Swift is here, so is the lexicographic Dr. Johnson. The widest of readers, Theroux is raconteur, art historian, and pop culturalist, all at the same time. His book is a rich and totally captivating tour de force, a virtuoso performance of a kind that offers nothing less than a liberal education. This is a work for artist and art historian, designer and graphic artist, student and teacher, and anyone sensitive to the many and vivid nuances of color, but, best of all, it remains a complete feast for the general reader. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
The is a rich collection of observations about the colors blue, yellow, and red. The essays tend to ramble in a wealth of facts that one either finds fascinating (as I do) or overwhelming.
Interesting meditation on blue, yellow, and red. Fun to puruse and a good way to study allusions in books, the arts, etc., explore our emotions and psychological reactions to color. This is NOT a particularly linear book.
I bought this, as well as Theroux's The Secondary Colors, at a used book sale because I thought the idea of meditations on color was an intriguing one (I loved Derek Jarman's Chroma), and I was also sucked in by the rave blurbs on the back of each.
I was severely disappointed, to the extent that I not only didn't bother with The Secondary Colors, I barely made a dent in this one. It's nothing but lists of color usage, names, etc., in the form of paragraphs, not organized around any central theme or with any overarching idea in mind. There are lots of interesting facts, but it's all presented in a very boring manner.
I was severely disappointed, to the extent that I not only didn't bother with The Secondary Colors, I barely made a dent in this one. It's nothing but lists of color usage, names, etc., in the form of paragraphs, not organized around any central theme or with any overarching idea in mind. There are lots of interesting facts, but it's all presented in a very boring manner.
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Author Information
38+ Works 2,138 Members
Series
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Common Knowledge
- Original publication date
- 1994
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Statistics
- Members
- 311
- Popularity
- 102,364
- Reviews
- 4
- Rating
- (3.72)
- Languages
- English, Spanish
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 8
- ASINs
- 3
