Word: notions
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Having tirelessly ridiculed the notion that his books are really about himself, Roth has now produced -- an autobiography. It is not called The Counterbook, as it turns out, but The Facts, in which the previously reticent writer points out instances in which his life, after all, has been lugged directly into his fiction. No one who has carefully followed Roth's career could have expected this mid-life striptease, least of all, apparently, its author. His confession begins with an apologia of sorts, a letter to Zuckerman explaining how the book came to be written and wondering "Why should anybody...
...current book there is still enough corruption to go around, but not much narrative drive. Condon's Mafia greedsters now own 32% of what there is to own in the U.S., "only five points down on the Japanese." Old, frail, evil Don Corrado hits on the up-to- date notion of getting out of street crime and franchising it to black, Hispanic and Oriental gangs, thus achieving really big bucks and respectability. But instead of telling the story, Condon endlessly tells about it. Characters do not take on their own faces or voices, and when the lowbrow Partanna is made...
...twelve-year Olympic hiatus has heightened the mystique of the competition. For American athletes -- and even more for American fans -- distance and legend have transformed the Soviets into supposed supermen and super-women, selected when barely out of the cradle and taught like emotionless automatons to excel. This exaggerated notion has some basis in fact. The Soviets have a nationwide network of specialized sports schools for even the youngest potential stars, leading to intensive adult training guided by methodical, scholarly study. High-tech training wizardry is rumored to be compounded by steroids and other chemical help: indeed, one popular explanation...
...expand the so-called Boston Compacts and Genesis Programs -- in which wealthy individuals and businesses seek to motivate high schoolers by promising a job or college scholarship to each graduate -- is doomed to failure in areas lacking either a surplus of good jobs or a willing philanthropist. His notion of asking investment bankers and college administrators to devise investment programs that will allow families to set aside funds today against the cost of their children's college educations will do little or nothing for the poorest Americans...
Good idea for a movie. And a great title: Night of the Living Feelies. Here's this really bewitching post-new wave band, living and working out of Haledon, N.J. (pop. 6,888). The notion is that, in the movie, all the residents of a small town not unlike Haledon are red-eyed, ash-faced zombies who lumber into a Feelies concert looking for a midnight snack. The undead are, of course, finally rejuvenated, but not by their customary infusions. The raucous restorative powers of the Feelies is what brings them back to life...