Word: pantheons
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What was missing from that cover, of course, was a baseball player. Not that evidence needs to be marshalled to prove that baseball no longer holds the top place in the pantheon of sport--just ask any fourth grader who he wants to be like, and after Jordan, Barkley, Shaq, a couple of football or hockey players, and maybe even a random tennis player, the nine-year-old might say Ken Griffey, Jr. or Barry Bonds or another diamond king. (Maybe this example is a slight exaggeration, but I believe it's substantively true...
...earlier than the seventeenth century--about five thousand years earlier. The rejection of polytheistic idolatry in favor of monotheism marked a crucial departure in the history of human society (Bible). Whereas our ancient ancestors--the Greeks, Romans, Celts, Hittites, Sumerians, etc.--achieved a balanced life by worshipping a pantheon of gods, our ability to lead such a harmonious existence in a rapidly changing world is limited by our reliance upon only one Supreme Being...
...nine stories Rushdie tells in East, West (Pantheon; 214 pages; $21), however, shed remarkably little light on his personal travails. True, one of his narrators remarks in passing, "And fictions, as I have come close to suggesting before, are dangerous." If anyone has earned the authority of that observation it is Rushdie, but here he seems more interested in the sheer fun of making things...
Stations: An Imaginary Journey by Michael Flanagan (Pantheon; $21). The artist-author carries us back to Old Virginny with a dual-media performance: 38 paintings of bygone railroads and Shenandoah Valley townscapes juxtaposed with a 50-page story about the love affair between Anna, an enigmatic artist, and Russell, a photographer and train buff. The meticulous paintings depict Russell's old photographs, complete with creases and torn edges. The text is the reminiscence of an apocryphal ex-newspaperman whose attempt to reconstruct a forgotten romance resurrects family secrets and American history. This is an original example of Proust's observation...
...both the fierce conceit and urgent soul-searching of Henry's character just as gallantly as his predecessor. However, he adds a few of his own complicated twists by not only making the film fast-paced enough for modern Hollywood audiences, but also by fleshing out the full pantheon of psychological contours that make Henry such a complex hero. From the grime to the sublime, Shakepeare's tragedy, with Henry's conscience as the centerpiece, is translated into a visual maelstrom of patriotic noblemen, blood-curdling gore and ruthless bastards. It's foul, grim stuff with a strong dash...