Word: mythical
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...classic western situation but unfortunately, Writer Tidyman and Director Eastwood (who also plays the title role) understand that one man's classic is another's cliché−and are anxious to make sure we know they know. Therefore they stress the mythic overtones that pop cultists are always finding in the standard western forms. All the ritual scenes−Eastwood's menacing entrance ride down Main Street, the saloon confrontation and the barbershop Shootout that establish his credentials as a law-and-order man−are handled so that the emphasis is on archetypicality rather than...
Author De Lillo would probably not be disappointed if Bucky Wunderlick is read as Jesus Christ Superstar in the urban wilderness. Bucky is last seen recovering from a language-erasing drug. It is suggested that he has been purified. But by nudging his hero toward the truly mythic, De Lillo overextends a book that is otherwise distinguished by a cool, clinical touch. As he demonstrated in two previous novels (Americana and the much overpraised End Zone), the author has a knack for chill atmosphere, satiric caricature and witty dialogue. He is also a good literary mechanic who knows...
...essence this mythic pattern is a slightly milder version of competitive swimming's Wild in the Streets timetable: Win big early and keep on winning or you will find yourself consigned permanently to ski racer's limbo at a very early age. As a rule of thumb, the mileposts are these: undefeated in Torger Tokle and Junior racing circuits to the age of 16, win Something Big by 18, and only a World Cup win or Olympic medal will save you past the age of 21. Over 21 sir? Hand over your race bib and step right into Charon...
HERMANN HESSE HAS in the past few years become the center of a cult, a following consisting mostly of the young and which can respond easily to his simple, mythic-symbolic prose. This is lamentable because Hesse's works, many of which lie on the borderline of acceptability, will not get the careful consideration they deserve in the wake of such superficial faddism. The twenty-three Stories of Five Decades (only three of them previously available in English) will certainly lend some more weight to the arguments both for and against Hesse. And assuming that Ralph Manheim's translation...
...Sledge family lives in Des Moines, and their mythic existence in this hinterland at America's heart forms the main thread of the action. Luke Sledge, who drinks a pint of whiskey a day and two on Saturday ("the cells of his body gulped whiskey like a tree drinking water out of the ground, pulling it up into its roots and sending it out into the farthest, highest leaves") is the father. He has a wife and many sons, and one daughter, Nellie, who is blind: the book is dedicated to her. It is the youngest son--Reuben--who tells...