Word: sober
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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When he met with congressional leaders last week, the President indicated that this was his intention. The lawmakers were struck by his humility, a quality that had not impressed them in the past. "He seemed extremely grave and sober," said a Senator. "There was no great jubilation." Nixon explained that he had remained isolated and uncommunicative because of the need for secrecy during the negotiations. "I respect the views of my critics," he said. Then he added emotionally: "I thank God for those who stood, thank God for those who gave their lives, thank God for those who suffered...
...niceties aside, it was clear that the Franco-German honeymoon was over. "We now have a more sober, businesslike relationship," as one Bonn official put it. Even if the French insisted it was only a matter of "nuances," the five hours of talks between the two leaders revealed differences that will not be easy to reconcile...
...Fragonard and Boucher. "He who has not lived be fore the Revolution," said Metternich, "cannot know the sweetness of life," and Renoir's spiritual home was built before 1789. Almost from the start of his career, Renoir's technique and sense of construction were superb: witness the sober, Venetian expansiveness of his great tribute to Corot, Pont-des-Arts, circa 1868. Or the vigorous, limpid Still Life with Bouquet, 1871 , whose tones of gold, amber and black sum up his affinities with Impressionism - light caress ing every surface, revealing each nu ance of substance from the crackly parchment...
There is, of course, an aesthetic case to be made against the national anthem. As Bass-Baritone George London indicates, the song is "impossible to sing if you're sober...the words do not automatically communicate their message." Another opera star, Enrico Caruso, found so little to understand in The Star-Spangled Banner that he devised a phonetic version: "O seiken iu see bai dhi dons erli lait/Huat so praudli ui heild at dhi tuailaits last glimmin..." As for those who do comprehend the message, what is there to like? Images of "the rockets' red glare, the bombs...
...episodes, the accessibility of its meaning, sentiments and broad comedy, Donald Newlove's second novel can be quite demanding. After finishing the last page, the reader may feel bound to answer a difficult question: Would he pick up hitchhiking 30-year-old Siamese twins, drenched and not too sober, carrying a trumpet, a trombone, a suitcase, a bag containing laundry and a bust of Ludwig van Beethoven...