Word: wittgensteins
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KUNG BEGINS his argument by dismissing every serious competing strain in Western thought to Christianity as sophistry. Sometimes his arguments are effective, particularly his critiques of Descartes and Wittgenstein. But eventually he buries the reader beneath a mound of philosophical jargon. As Kung's arguments become more and more complex, the philosophical debris grows to such heights that one cannot help laughing at serious remarks such as, "Obviously, Kierkegaard did not know Pascal's work firsthand; he quotes him only once, and then indirectly, through Feuerbach." Obviously...
...charming conversation, the interviewer asked her if she had experience with a xerox machine--"yes," she said, "and I've tasted my menstrual blood, too." Gagnon's brooding Carter is so contained at the start of the play that when she finally erupts, announcing her goal "to put Wittgenstein on film," she seems eccentric but credible...
Foremost, Terry Won't Talk embraces a thoroughgoing relativism, a denial of all values, an exposition of Wittgenstein's dictum (included in the program notes) that "all propositions are of equal value." As Mr. Blade tells Chester, "There's always an alternative," a meaningless choice between meaningless poles. People talk in paralleled non sequiturs...
These ideas are not meant to be taken altogether seriously; Leib's artistry in creating a fine one-act play, and the softpedalled wryness of the pretentious program notes (including quotes from Kafka, Steiner, and Beckett, as well as Wittgenstein) only enhance the subtlety of what amounts to an elaborate parody of an absurdist drama. This is not to say that Leib does not believe in an absurdist view of the universe--he clearly does. He just doesn't believe in writing a play about it. His focus is not on the ideas themselves, which are, as Terry should...
...trappings of a Woody Allen movie, particularly reminiscent of Sleeper in its science-fiction silliness, and it's no wonder--Brickman collaborated on Sleeper, as well as Annie Hall and Manhattan. Both moviemakers tend toward the intellectual, so it comes as no surprise that Brickman's characters cite Wittgenstein. But Allen's products are by far the more polished of the two; Brickman often has wonderful ideas that just don't quite come through on screen...