Word: ritualization
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Executions in past centuries were public events -- part ritual of citizenship, part savage entertainment. Every self-respecting English town had its gallows. As prisoners were carted from jail to noose, their friends along the route passed them strong drink and might turn the last mile into a macabrely hilarious rolling party. Later, the decorous 19th century thought it more humane and seemly to execute people out of sight, behind the prison walls...
Herein lies the structural leitmotif that encapsulates Mr. Lodge's main theme, a device readers of Mr. Lodge's have come to expect. Roger Sheldrake, an aggressive anthropologist, explains to Bernard the thesis of his book: "Sightseeing," he lectures," is a substitute for religious ritual." His model includes travels as a pilgrimage through which some transformative healing process is intended to occur. Mr. Lodge's book is based on the same thesis, to some extent, as Sheldrake...
...ritual would begin. I would click the "on" button of the television and plant mysellf on the couch in our den. Instantaneously, I would be sucked into the animated world of Scooby and Shaggy--not to escape from Saturday morning Cartoonland until five hours later when the networks began broadcasting sports like golf and bowling...
...Real life" ordeals are more interesting today, and more bizarre, than anyone's fiction. But the phenomenon of ritual celebrity ordeal seems to foul up the judgment of journalists...
Alan is a puzzle. He takes Dysart and the audience into the bizarre world that he shares with Equus, who Alan believes is a deity. In one scene, Alan invokes Equus to ride with him. This nightly ritual is one of the truly magnificent scenes of the play. The revolving stage, drawn by the horses (played with great poise by Kareem Montague, Cecilia Sperling, Meredith Wolf, Keith Barsky and Catherine Zuromskis) enhance Alan's excitement and passion...