Word: barney
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...bumptious codger Barney Panofsky of Barney's Version (Knopf; 368 pages; $25) is more than a familiar Richler hero. He is the author's fullest expression of the type: a pleasure-loving scoundrel with a generous romantic streak and a gift that can turn schmoozing into literature. Barney makes his sizable living producing Canadian-content TV series like McIver of the RCMP ("big on bonking scenes in canoes and igloos"). He calls his company Totally Unnecessary Productions, a name that flaunts his self-loathing but, more important, pre-empts the scorn of his artistic betters...
Richler's lusty creation never seems "larger than life," a cliche that underestimates the size of life. Better to say that Barney fills an expansive and unconventional existence. He is the son of Montreal's first Jewish policeman, Izzy Panofsky, who would have been at home in the old Odessa underworld. The younger Panofsky spent the early '50s in Paris, where he debauched with expats and married a crazy poet whose suicide ensured her canonization by academic feminists. What Barney calls "the true story of my wasted life" may seem undisciplined and chronologically impaired. In fact his memoir is cunningly...
...BARNEY'S NO LAUGHING MATTER...
Your item on "Feud Of The Week" said that the Famous San Diego Chicken mascot was a winner for assaulting Barney and that Barney was "always a loser" [PEOPLE, Nov. 17]. I disagree. I used to make jokes about Barney, the popular purple dinosaur. But now I have a two-year-old daughter who at the very mention of the name Barney breaks into a joyful, excited dance. I think the Famous Chicken is just jealous. I bet he'd love to be recognized the world over. NANCY HOLTROP Palmdale, Calif...
...Barbie and Barney Backlash...