Word: banalized
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...rather than dramatic, required whole passages of flat prose to be set to music, with the result that long stretches of the score were labored and discursive. In the war scenes, the opera stiffened with self-conscious patriotism, which Prokofiev illustrated with military airs that occasionally verged on the banal. But overall, War and Peace was a notable achievement. Whatever it lacked in sustained dramatic effect it made up in color, movement, and the driving force of lyric melody and great choral frescoes...
...Banal and I were classmates. Our eyes had met, our bodies had met, and then someone introduced us . . . A stranger across the booth spoke. "Monique, what are you staring at, silly girl?" It was Banal. Curious that I hadn't recognized him. Suddenly I knew why. A revolting look of cheerfulness had twisted and distorted those clear young features until he seemed actually to be smiling...
...like Banal to say the obvious . . . Why must we chatter fruitlessly and endlessly about philosophy and politics? I confess that I am only interested in questions that touch the heart of another human being-"Who are you sleeping with?"; "What do you take for quick relief from acid indigestion...
...Banal's voice droned on like a chorus of cicadas on a hot day until finally there was a statement I couldn't ignore. "Monique, I want you to meet my grandfather, Anatole. My rich grandfather.'' A slight, stooped man came toward me. He was no longer middleaged, but I liked that. I was so tired of these eager boys of 50. His hair, which was greenish white, might have been unpleasant had there been more of it. As he smiled gently, showing his small, even, ecru teeth, I thought, "Ah, he's the type...
...realized with a sudden stab of joy that finally I had met a man who was as bored as I was . . . Now Banal was speaking, in his infantile way. "Do you know Monique has never seen the sea?" Then a woman spoke, Anatole's wife. "Why, that's awful that this poor child has never seen the sea. Anatole, darling, you must take her to our little chateau by the ocean. I won't be able to come because I'm redecorating the town house. But there is plenty of food in the frigidaire, and Monique...