Word: devilment
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...very little understanding of the problems within his ecclesiastical home. His approach to the priest has been obsequious, only because that is the way we trained him. He has looked at the priest as a celestial magician, and cannot fathom the exodus as anything but the work of the devil...
...called the Devil's Woodyard in the 18th century, when brawling lumberjacks settled there. Now called Lamar, the bleak little tobacco town of 1,350 in eastern South Carolina was convulsed last week in another kind of violence, an atavistic rebellion against the influx of black children to a predominantly white school...
...whether you think technological civilization is beneficial. Personally, I like it, but I'm not convinced it is a viable creation. It may destroy itself." Destruction was the first and still remains the cardinal function of war as such-and therein lies the true motive of these devil's advocates. By stating the case for war, they are stating the case against mankind...
Into this amicable stasis Murdoch introduces a favorite character of hers, the mean, mysterious catalyst. This time it is a famous scientist named Julius King, who is a latter-day lago, if not the Devil himself. Arriving in London and finding his friends happy is too much for Julius. Playing on vanity, sowing distrust he labors suavely to link Rupert with Hilda's younger sister and Simon with himself. As the plot unravels, the book shifts from comedy to melodrama, to tragedy-a course few writers could control or sustain. Miss Murdoch nearly manages it, because her presence...
...Sympathy for the Devil has its problems, particularly in the second half, but it also contains flashes of intellectual and visual brilliance. Perhaps we can forgive Godard his unease about being a revolutionary who makes films and feeds on the movement he supports. Just as we can forgive the Stones for feeding on black music. If it weren't for Godard and the Stones, how would we know ourselves...