polemic aspects of Cancer Ward andnAugust 1914, more briefly but just asnconvincingly. The reader leaves thenbook with a sense of having appreciatednSolzhenitsyn anew, of having come anlittle closer to sharing his complex universe.nIn the final chapter, Krasnov capturesnSolzhenitsyn’s style in one morenparadox by calling it a kind of “spiritualnrealism.” Realism, surely: for if this benfiction it is based on the most direct personalnexperience; even August 1914nwas researched to the smallest details ofnbattlefield action. At the same time, spiritualitynis the prime quality of Solzhen­nTele-debasing PoliticsnJohn Bartlow Martin: The Televisingnof Heller; Doubleday & Co.,nNew York.nRon Powers: Face Value; DelacortenPress; New York.nby Edward J. Lynchnielevision, according to the enlightenednopinion of our day, is a blot uponnour cultural existence. The tube invitesnits viewers passively to observe transitorynand illusory phenomena, allowingnexposure to a myriad of messages, butnexamination of none. The medium doesnnot encourage reflection, and cannot permitndialogue between the viewers andnthose viewed. Using an edited sequencenof visual illusions, this reductive mediumnlures people away from reading,nthereby contributing to the decline ofnliteracy among us. Dependent as it isnupon novelty, television abets the processnthrough which a politics of debate isnreplaced by a politics of slogans andngimmickry. Nothing done on our homenscreens over the past two decades hasnaltered the accuracy of Newton Minow’sncharacterization of television as a “vastnDr. Lynch is a free-lance writer fromnMaryland.nitsyn’s novels, a commitment to the immaterial,nthe invisible, and, in a sense,nto the irrational. For a belief in the powernof “a grain of truth to change the wholenworld,” as Solzhenitsyn put it in hisnNobel Prize speech, must strike one asnirrational—unless it is the ultimatelynrational, the most eminently sane idealnin a world that seems to leave so littlenroom for freedom, where the genuinenharmony of many voices is so often repudiatednin favor of a monophonic plainsongnworshipping nothing, not evennman. As against the lonely chant, angrain of truth may well go a long way. Dnwasteland.”nNothing more accurately depicts thenvalidity of the charges against televisionnthan the superficiality of those usingncompeting media to assault the tube.nNetwork provided the nation’s film industrynan opportunity to use a superficialnfilm to satirize the mindlessness of thentelevision industry and audience. BeingnThere transforms a book based upon anpaltry idea into a comedy which sparesncustomers the pretentiousness of Network.nPeter Sellers at least realizes thatnhe is joking.nSince Joe McGinnis described ThenSelling of the President, 1968, we havensuffered through a deluge of writersnwilling (and with some clever statisticalnmanipulations, apparently able) to demonstratenseveral biases in candidate coveragenover television, issues viewed onnthe tube, the efforts of campaign strategistsnto shape coverage and, they hope,nresults, and a host of other biases attributednto editors and networks. Commentatorsnhave lambasted the tendency ofntelevision to present news and currentnaffairs as a form of entertainment. Somethingnallegedly is lost when BarbaranWalters, rather than Walter Cronkite,nreads the evening news from the Teleprompter.nThese novels reflect certainnworries about the influence of the mediannnon politics. Each moves from one of thenmarginal myths of liberal Americanthrough a plot which would shame thensorriest soap-opera writer to a conclusionnwhich leaves one wonderingnwhy anyone might worry about theirnfantasies.nJohn Bartlow Martin draws on hisnfamiliarity with Illinois politics to cultivatena fantasy which he developed innthe wake of the 1968 presidential election.nMartin’s protagonist, Joe Mackey,nis an “idealistic” political worker whonholds firmly to a belief that low ratingsnin early opinion polls doomed HubertnHumphrey’s presidential candidacy.nConvinced that the vice president wouldnbe a loser in November, contributorsnallegedly withheld the funds with whichnthe not-so-Happy Warrior might havenpromoted his campaign over the air^^ays.nAccording to the Martin/Mackey illusion,nshifts in the polls late in the campaignnindicated support which truenbelievers knew was there all along. Somenmoney came, but it was too little, toonlate. Had the early polls reflectednHumphrey’s “true” support, or if thencampaign had only been a bit longer, thenresults might have been different, andnAmericans might have been spared thenNixon presidency.nJn the basis of The Televising ofnHeller, John Bartlow Martin will nevernhave grounds to attack television writersnfor superficial character development.nJoseph T. Heller is a United States senatornfrom Illinois running to hold his seat.nA product of the fringes of machine politicsnwho had come to terms with Daleynwithout alienating the “Lakefront Liberals,”nHeller acquired his Senate seat bynresigning as governor and having hisnsuccessor appoint him. Although hencares about all of the appropriate issues,nthe campaign is close, and late-summernpolls show him losing his lead overnright-wing Republican Andrews. Overnthe objection of Joe Mackey, his campaignnmanager and administrative assistant.nHeller hires a media whiz, RichardnCutler, to revitalize his campaign.ni29nJuly August 1980n