Thursday, June 29, 2017
Stoner by John Williams****
I reread this periodically not because I'm a depressive but because I'm a college instructor and Williams' straightforward rendering of time, place, regional and cultural strictures, academic politics, living to love and work resonate across time, place, etc. His portrayal of women is not so hot though—two-dimensional sketches typical of the era and much of literature. So when the movie of this is finally made to appease us underground fans (whenever that will be), I hope the female characters are fleshed out to be more than mental cases, mistresses and drunks.
Monday April 10, 2017
I Never Sang for My Father by Robert Woodruff Anderson***
For this kind of a play, whose language is so dated, the real key is the adaptation, staging and acting. I was interested though in the fact that Anderson was married to Teresa Wright, one of my favorite mid 20th century character actresses, and that she played the part of Alice.
Bonjour tristesse by Françoise Sagan****
A fun romp through a spoiled, entitled adolescent's machinations, even when their consequences are predictably disastrous. If only the denizens of contemporary reality shows and hipster neighborhoods were half as engaging as mid-century Cecile. Going to check out the 1958 film version next.
September 22, 2016
*****
Milicent Borges Accardi is one of those rare poets, like Carolyn Forche', Philip Levine and Louise Glück, who is able to write about lives, memories, histories, experience, tender or unimaginably brutal, as if there is no difference between the Body Politic and the Body, because there isn't. This collection shows her at the peak of her powers in this regard. Of particular note: "Cisneje Prostora," "Only More So," "Portrait of a Girl, 1942," "In Prague," "Arrhythmia," "After She Got Her Nose Fixed'--but what am I saying? They're all gems!
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