Word: fiendishness
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Politicians on both sides expressed shock over what Protestant M.P. James Kilfedder described as "fiendish acts of terrorism." Outrage shifted from the I.R.A., which had been carrying out savage bombings late last year, to the U.D.A. and the savage Protestant shootings that are taking place this year. "The time for pussyfooting with the U.D.A. has now ended," fumed Catholic Parliamentary Leader John Hume. "The British government must face up to it or there will be no resolution of the Northern Ireland problem...
...Doctor tries to carry out his fiendish experiment, a fight breaks out and the laboratory catches on fire. Allen and Helen manage to escape, but so does the result of one of the doctor's experiments--a giant breast that flops through the countryside like a Japanese science fiction monster. But Allen tells Helen not to worry, because "he knows how to handle tits" and they rush off to the Sheriff's office. Eventually a plan is devised where Allen lures the stalking breast into a trap-a gigantic bra. But even after the breast is captured, the Sheriff remains...
Despite such malevolent connections, Satan remained a temptingly attractive figure. Milton made him such a hero that next to him Christ looked almost pallid. Faust's fiendish friend, Mephistopheles, is one of literature's great protagonists. It is no new thing for the Rolling Stones to conjure up Sympathy for the Devil. He had it long ago, even from so famous a church father as Origen, who speculated that Satan and his fallen angels would be saved at the end of time...
...play the game again. The habits of our minds force us to once again look for the "explanation" for the events we see. In The Birthday Party, one could explain McCann's and Goldberg's actions as a fiendish underworld plot to get Stanley. Here it's just as simple: Ruth must have been a prostitute when Teddy married her (the suggestion is made several times in the play). Perhaps Teddy has brought her to Europe to work out the unresolvable differences between them, has failed in his efforts, and is now willing to let the family solve his problem...
...limits and worth in view of its author's career and its readers' lives. While Sheed is intent on letting the novel speak for itself, his writing undercuts and bolsters his subject at appropriate turns: "But enough meaning is enough. The book can also be read simply as a fiendish compendium of exurban manners--the dinner party scenes, the protocol of adultery, the care and neglect of children..." And though Sheed's opinions are hard-edged, he is never pedantic, or in any other way academic...