Word: goodmans
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...talk was informal and rambling. Goodman described a phenomenon of contemporary fiction; he recounted two chapters of a forthcoming novel; he criticized contemporary American society. The three turned out to be as inextricably intertwined as the lecturer's several roles of critic, author, and sociologist...
...last several decades, Goodman explained, men have increasingly accepted a tragic view of their lives: men are the helpless products of social forces. And as this attitude has become popular, men have become more introspective, seeking meaning in extra-social activities...
...Goodman's dismay, literature has followed this same asocial pattern. Fictional characters either accept their social roles and concentrate on their personal lives (James Gould Cozzens), or they withdraw from society and lead the life of the beat, the hip, or the drugged...
Using Another Country as an example of this latter type of novel. Goodman complained that "Baldwin concentrates so hard on men making the scene that he ignores what they're not doing. The Negro characters are often sensitive, but not one of them has a political opinion. In this sense they are not alive. Nothing that these people do is as interesting as what your friends are doing. Few of Baldwin's characters even do anything for a living...
...characters in Goodman's forthcoming novel are very much alive. The many aspects of their lives are all intertwined...