Word: counterpoint
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Bergreen has reorganized-and necessarily simplified-Twain in order that Huck's gradual recognition of the nigger Jim's humanity and, more than that, friendship provide a thematic structure. In counterpoint are arranged those episodes ashore in which Huck discovers the prevailing inhumanity of most other pre-Civil War, Mississippi Valley traditions. Perhaps because for many in the audience, suspense is precluded by knowledge of the book, while, for the rest, the bare precis that remains appears emotionally shallow, Huck's journey down the Mississippi lacks even the rudimentary sense of adventure that Tom Sawyer would demand of such...
Trillin relates his Army story as humorous counterpoint to his deadpan account of a violent peace demonstration that took place just outside Fort Dix, N.J., on Armed Forces Day 1970. Between the public relations game of a peacetime Army and the pitched battles of war-sick civilians, a decade of change is neatly revealed. Nothing cosmic, only a clear, courteous reminder of how much things have changed...
...1960s reverberated to rock. The walloping folk rock of Bob Dylan sang a striking counterpoint to the sweet-sour, sometimes thunderous eloquence of the Beatles at their best; the psychedelic star shells launched by the Jefferson Airplane soared over the Beelzebub beat and leer of the Rolling Stones. And now, suddenly, the '70s have brought a startling change. Over the last year a far gentler variety of rock sound has begun to soothe the land...
...seemingly superior strength of will. Eventually, with an academic's rationality, having battled point by point against Martha and against his guests for more than three hours, he brings them, and himself, to the realization of their most fundamental fears. McCarthy paces the play, and keeps, by his earnest counterpoint, Miss Robinson's extravagantly played role of the braying Martha from becoming too much of a caricature of a faculty-wife floozy...
...mind a more devious mission. She knows that Ceil Adams might help her get a certificate as a regular guidance counselor if she can promise to hush unpleasant particulars about Anna's transgression. Decked out in an unbelievably gaudy purple pants-suit, Rae Allen provides perfect comic counterpoint for Bill Macy as her plain-talking, course husband. Neither is malevolent. They're outrageously funny...