Word: priestly
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...beginning of this latest Robertson Davies novel, an elderly priest of the Anglican Church of Canada drops dead during Good Friday services. That scene is not explained until the end of "The Cunning Man" (Viking; 469 pages; $23.95). But TIME critic Paul Gray says the overriding appeal of works by "Canada's foremost living author" rarely rides on suspense. Instead, says Gray, the 81-year-old writer "entertains with an old-fashioned fictional mixture" of "keen social observations delivered with wit, intelligence and free-floating philosophical curiosity...
...hundreds of anecdotes, jokes and limericks in the book fall into three categories; the familiar, the amusing and the downright revolting. The first group includes just about every sexual stereotype in history: the libertine Frenchman, the repressed, masochistic Englishman, the randy medieval priest and the depraved Roman aristocrat are all present. Some of the anecdotes are almost too well-worn. The exploits of Casanova, for example, feature prominently, as does Lawrence of Arabia's fondness for being whipped. And the story of Abelard and Heloise is also included, since castration is one of the book's favorite topics...
...hope, with their lives ahead of them and their family values just taking shape, are actually on the cutting edge-even if it is an old blade. Although the Catholic Church has always required engaged couples to undergo pre-Cana counseling-usually just one day of talks from a priest and a married couple about finances, communication and family planning-a more intensive form of preparation is coming into practice not only among Catholics but also among churchgoers of all denominations across America. Last November clergy in the Louisville, Kentucky, area became the 26th religious coalition...
Interesting "on-the-job" tales: We used to go out to coffee shops during the actual funeral mass, and one time the funeral director ordered some extravagant omelette, so we were late getting back to a funeral--so the priest actually had to stall during the service...
...burly Puerto Rican ex-soprano whose voice (since giving birth to triplets) has darkened to a take-no-prisoners mezzo. In the role of the doomed warrior Radames, all-American tenor ``Tex Stolto'' can't seem to resist handing out glossy photos of himself. And as Ramfis, the high priest, Russian bass ``Boris Pistoff'' doffs his headdress to reveal himself as a Conehead...