Word: dictional
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...challenging as Commune. I was right. In the cramped surroundings of the Junior Common Room, our Communards were not acting anarchy; frequently, they seemed to be living it. During the big ensemble numbers in which the whole company boomed out numbers like the "Solidarity Song," my petty cavils about diction (and the French accents affected were appallingly heterodox) became suddenly irrelevant. Moments of total excitement such as these are rare in theater. I am sure that tonight's performance of The Days of the Commune will measure up, on the whole, as a success-if only for this robust fusion...
...Loeb production of The Homecoming is a fine piece of work, despite its slow start. With the exception of Teddy, each of the actors has his role down. Only Ron Mallis, as the cuckolded Ph. D. has problems, unable to shake off a pre-occupation with precise diction until well into the second act. Susan Yakutis as his wife does a valiant job of keeping up their dialogue in the first act, but he seems not to understand quite what is going on. By the second act, though, he has joined the group, has become as mad as the rest...
Then, asked why Greek schoolchildren are taught in Katherevousa, a mixture of ancient and modern Greek which had recently been spoken only in select circles, and now the official language-he said that it differs from modern Greek only as much as proper diction differs from slang...
McCarthy clearly finds in poetry an order and tranquillity absent from the world in which he achieved recognition. His meter, diction and rhetoric are traditional enough, as are his subjects: nature, religion, aging, death, love. They reveal a man with an abiding desire to be isolated, unclocked, unshackled by the limelight. At times this shows directly: "Beyond the coffin confines of telephone booths, my arms stretch to read, in vain." At times it appears obliquely: "Poor fish who knew the sea why did you dare...
...Arthur Clarke's space odyssey 2001, the most intriguing character is not flesh and blood but an extraordinary computer called HAL (for Heuristically programmed ALgorithmic computer). Amazingly lifelike, HAL speaks with flawless diction, calmly disposes of almost any problem and-when it turns "psychotic"-does the same to most of the human crew. Could Clarke's fantasy also be prophecy? Perhaps. In a chilling augury of the cybernetic future, scientists at Caltech's Jet Propulsion Laboratory have now created a computer that in some ways approaches HAL's versatility. In at least one vital respect...