Word: mortality
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Keeping the Greek myths untangled is something the Greeks themselves were never very good at. One reason is that, for religious, political and artistic reasons, the myths were always being changed. Another is that the Olympians, the lesser gods and the mortal heroes were virtually omnigamous; the nymphs were, if not nymphomaniacal. at least nymphoeccentric. But precisely because the myths are complex, they are best learned by the young, and it is hard to imagine a better -or more decorous-introduction than Robert Graves's new book...
...much sense to condescend. But the book, which is pleasantly illustrated by Dimitris Davis, is simply enough written to be read by an intelligent parent to an intelligent eight-year-old. Graves lets his readers see the Olympians as the more sophisticated Greeks saw them-beings more than mortal, but no more than human. He explains, for instance, that the sea god Poseidon "hated to be less important than his younger brother (Zeus), and always went about scowling. When he felt even crosser than usual, he would drive away in his chariot to a palace under the waves, near...
...berobed old Britisher with a patch over one eye and a theory that, by Allah, there is petroleum under a certain unpromising patch of ground. The old fellow's bastard son shows up, learns to be an oil geologist in a trice, and shortly is locked in mortal combat with his father. It is this son who defends the fort, and he would be there yet, pinging away with his Enfield at the emir's thugs, if the Trucial Oman Scouts had not fetched him out. They are a dandy plot device, and Novelists Prokosch and Bowles might...
Dominican Republic. Dictator Rafael Leonidas Trujillo has had 30 years to perfect his military defenses, but he is still mortal; when he goes, by revolt or old age, the vacuum he leaves is all too likely to be filled by pro-Castro Marxists...
...Mortal Bishops. Within the confessional each priest is the ultimate human judge of sins not legally reserved to the bishop or Holy See (e.g., abortion, physical attack on the clergy, etc.). If a penitent is denied absolution by one priest, he may seek out another whose viewpoint is congenial to his. Furthermore, a Puerto Rican Catholic might believe that voting for the P.D.P. was a political matter outside the realm of faith and morals, and considered the bishops' letters merely advisory exhortations. In that case, if the voter has considered carefully and acted in good faith...