Word: heros
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...memoirs, Peggy Guggenheim describes a character she calls "Oblomov," which is her name for the young Samuel Beckett of the 1930s. The name was apt. Oblomov is the hero of a 19th century Russian novel by Goncharov, and he is famed for his inability to get out of bed. The mere thought of taking any action or making any decision makes him burrow deeper under the covers in a paroxysm of inertia. Miss Guggenheim's "Oblomov'' told her that "ever since his birth he had retained a terrible memory of life in his mother's womb...
Another impressive scene is the one in which a truck has to be turned around on a wooden platform hanging over the edge of a cliff. The cutting and soundtrack of this scene prove Clouzot to be a master at editing and timing suspense scenes. (Yvcs Montand is the hero of this scene...
...book's other great strength lies in the charm of the hero, Gnossos Pappadopoulis, who one automatically identifies with Farina himself. Gnossos of course is the expression of ultimate cool. He says on the second page...
...gets away with everything. He does incredible varieties and quantities of dope but never flips out; he treats girls like objects and never feels guilty; he can go to war and not be shot; he can act outrageously and never be reproached. He is the complete hip college hero, and the aura of this rubs over to Farina...
However, the new book, Long Time Coming and A Long Time Gone, expands the mythology. The fiction and the poetry aren't particularly good, but the transcribed song lyrics and the memoirs are some ofthe best of Farina as artist or hero. The myth becomes about as complete as I imagine it ever will...