Word: magical
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Donoso's magic is munificent but chilly; he aims to beguile the senses rather than engage them. Near the end, he closes up shop: "The curtain must now fall and the lights come up; my characters will take off their masks, I will pull down the sets, put away the props." Few will regret attending this dazzling performance; some may wish that they had been allowed to care more about the play. -By Paul Gray...
...quarter-century Switzerland has led a charmed political life, thanks largely to a "magic formula" that left little room for opposition to government policy. The scheme's principal feature was the inclusion of representatives of all four major political parties on the seven-man Federal Council that serves as the quadrilingual nation's governing body...
...thought, would make her acceptable to her male colleagues in government. Convinced that Uchtenhagen was well qualified for the job, the Social Democratic Party nominated her to fill a vacancy left when one of the two Social Democrats on the Federal Council resigned. Under the unwritten rules of the magic formula, Uchtenhagen should have been a shoo...
...decision to leave the coalition. The outcome of the vote is not certain. Even if the party goes into opposition, Switzerland will no doubt remain a model of economic and political stability. But for Swiss men the experience may serve as a warning that it takes more than a magic formula to preserve harmony at home...
...painting in the context of other Lottos, and to find how the peculiar magic of its imagery is distilled from the elegant claustrophobia of his more "normal" work, is not just a pleasure but an education...