Word: sheed
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...WILFRID SHEED...
...book reviewer of the highest order, and a scorner most subtle, Wilfrid Sheed can light up another man's novel, amuse the children by blowing smoke rings for a quarter of an hour, and then stub out the butt with a gesture so incisive that the wretched author resolves to forswear literature and apprentice himself to a tree surgeon. But Sheed is also a novelist himself, so skilled that a few years ago, in Max Jamieson, he managed to write a strong and eloquent novel whose main character was a critic. The feat was the equivalent of successfully memorializing...
...Senator who wants, or seems to want, to be President. A peculiarity of the novel is that Casey's character becomes progressively less vivid and distinct as the narration advances, until by the last page he has totally disappeared from view. This is no accident, and, in fact, Sheed may have hit on the perfect literary device to portray the evolution of that strange political subspecies-public illusionists, private delusionists-whose members become candidates for the U.S. presidency...
...technique is extremely tricky, however, and the view here is that Sheed to some extent has fumbled. The novel comes in two sections. The first is a recollection by Casey himself of his school and college years, the second a view of Casey's presidential campaign recorded by a priggish young Ivy League speechwriter who is both beguiled and disgusted by the candidate. The problem with this arrangement is that the speechwriter, Sam Perkins, is not really intelligent or substantial enough to be a good observer. The reader does not want Casey to be explained-at the core...
...villain, whom Sheed labelled the priest of the group, recognized his restless neighbors' need for community ritual, approving their matings and swappings and supplying them with the necessary sports, parties, and outings. His nemesis, and the figure closest to a hero that Updike could then manage, embodied freedom and real earthiness, wells of love for individuals. He was, in short, a throwback to a time when a man could build his life straight up from the ground. He only appealed to his friends' and ladies' private affections, ignoring their needs for social exposure, and was thus destroyed. Unfortunately, the novel...