Word: themes
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...funny lines, and here and there an amusing scene. But on the whole, it both bogs down as a tale and goes out of bounds in the telling. Motherhood may or may not be sacred, but it cannot for three acts without respite be altogether happily profane; the theme turns more than dubious, it turns dull. And the telling in Tunnel is no help. In dealing exclusively with errant husbands, expectant wives and unwed mothers, it is essential that there be a light touch that leaves no smudge, a swift skating tempo that outrides thin ice. The Tunnel of Love...
...Jekyll and Hyde Variations, by Morton Gould, premiered by the New York Philharmonic. The piece, consisting of a theme and 13 variations, wittily-if obviously-evokes the opposing moods of the Stevenson story with calm, melodic passages alternating with turbulent climaxes. In an epilogue of glib, quiet harmonies, Gould mirrors the release through death of Stevenson's tortured hero...
...wrong with him, anyway? Readers may have to brace themselves for the answer given by French Novelist Albert Camus (The Plague). It is not fashionable, like the Oedipus complex or alcoholism or a nagging mistress. Jean-Baptiste is under Adam's curse, original sin. Such a theme would be no novelty from François Mauriac or Graham Greene, but it is surprising when it comes from an existentially-minded French intellectual. As a novelist, Camus dissipates his shock effect by telling his story in a long-winded flashback. As a thinker, he remains as provocative, and to many...
...combining the central theme of man's isolation with Carl Sandburg, "Ain't Got No Home" may have immortalized itself...
This has not long been true. Up pto about three years ago, popular music was --- and syrupily romantic --- listening. Reflecting an emphasis on the value that America places on --- adolescent period), the almost exclusive theme of popular music is still the glorification of romantic love. But instead of the earlier preponderance of sleepy ballads, popular music is characterized today by a new vibrancy...