Editor’s Commentn”In America,” a man of functional wit told me once,n”people means those who live in the East Sixties or shop onnRodeo Drive. Those who live in Queens or Tupelo, Mississippi,nand consider a good hot dog with chili delicious arenAmericans.”nHe himself wore French designer jeans, custom-madencowboy boots, an androgynous shirt open to the navel; thenhair...

nibals who gorge on common sense, routinely confer thenvocable “people” upon the most unexpected specimens.nA friend of mine, a lady of flaming liberal persuasion,ntook part in the historic Chicago flare-up during the 1968nDemocratic Party convention. She marched against the war,nthe system, Amerika—meaningless formulations—and fornrefreshing revolution, social change, inebriation with progressn—even sillier suggestions. Her radical storm...

Opinions & ViewsnTo Think Despair and Live HopenHerbert R. Lottman: Albert Camus;nDoubleday & Co.; New York.nby Stephen L. TannernIf they only knew who I really was,”nCamus once remarked to his secretarynand confidante. He was not an easy mannto understand. In fact, he has been muchnmisunderstood and his writings misconstrued.nFor example, though he firmlynand repeatedly insisted...

are parts or stages of one intellectualnand spiritual quest. A reader of Camusnshould balance his reading of ThenStranger and The Myth of Sisyphusnwith a careful reading of The Rebel.nThis will help him perceive the chronologicalndevelopment of his thought.nIn The Rebel the second basic conceptnis elaborated: revolt, Camus usesnthe word in a special way, not in...

this heart inside me and I conclude thatnit exists. I can touch this world and Inalso conclude that it exists. All mynknowledge ends at this point. The restnis hypothesis.” Here is his principalnlimitation: an inability or refusal to testnthe hypothesis. Everything is at stakenin that test because somewhere in thenhypothesis is the only solid foundationnfor...

Americans, well trained in ordinarynAmerican police techniques of detection,npursuit and fighting, feel at home.nThey prove to be more than a match fornSoviet agents, though the latter arenincomparably more numerous; Americannagents foil their Soviet counterpartsneffectively unless thfe president ornCongress, prompted by the New YorknTimes, ruins it all. On the other hand,nthe totalitarian Soviet regime is im-n”…...

Nixon lie when he said exactly the opposite?nOr does Richard Nixon exist onlyninasmuch as the New York Timesnchooses to reflect his existence?nwne can easily believe the numerousndescriptions by Powers of amicable relationsnbetween top CIA officials likenRichard Helms and New York Timesneditors like James Reston, S. L. Sulzbergernand Powers himself. These CIAnofficials ought to be pleased...

a CIA officer named Carmel Offie, andnthe man was fired from the CIA as anbad security risk. McCarthy made hisncases “from FBI reports, the right-wingnpress, Washington rumor, the leaksnof disappointed men, and pure innuendo.”nEven such a sedate statementnwould have been improbable in a booknpublished in New York a few years ago.nBut in the very next...

in contact with him after his releasenfrom prison until his death: family, angirl friend, his two victims, lawyers,npolicemen, public defenders, fellownprisoners, and of course reporters andnhucksters of book and movie contracts.nIt is all there, unedited, we know, becausenthe legend on the dust cover tellsnus that:n”Norman Mailer has not predigestednhis material and imposed a point ofnview....

are secondary, no, unimportant, evennmeaningless, in the process of creatingna media superstar. Gary Gilmore wasngood “copy”; he was not some derangednhillbilly or ghetto hit man, but a calculating,nreasonably intelligent man whonturned his life consciously to the pursuitnof evil: “I walked in on Benny Bushnellnand I said to that fat son of a bitch,n’Your money, son,...

grammatical sentences.nAn example of such a universal wouldnbe the fact that sentences in all languagesnare hierarchically rather thannlinearly organized. Because of this propertynor “constraint” the words of a sentencenare analyzable into groups ofnnested units, which in turn may be representednby a system of constituentnbrackets. Thus (ignoring most of thendetails) the sentence The argument fornliberalism that...

gain and everything to lose by innovating.”nDuring the course of his thoroughndemolition of Chomsky’s position,nSampson reinterprets a number of issuesnthrough his liberal lens. The war innVietnam, for example, is colored differentlynwhen the authoritarian naturenof the opposing government is takenninto consideration. Similarly, Britain’snmembership in the European EconomicnCommunity becomes a regressive actnand the whole Jensen I.Q. controversynan...

teacher. But before looking for her,nFlood recalls where the letter was concealednin his apartment, opens it andnreads it. It is in Russian, but that is nonproblem: one year’s residence and anprevious year of study had made himnfluent in that language. The letter speaksnof a vast, secret, anti-American undertakingnlaunched inside the USA by sinisternSoviet forces. Anything...

further mysteries it contains. Marjanobligingly draws another architecturalnmap, skillfully locating the burglarnalarm system, the guard—a dog—andnvon Hoffen’s assistant. None of thesenfaze Flood, who breaks into the garagenbehind the house, which is unaccountablynleft with no alarm system or dog,nand sets fire to McCabevon Hof fen’snMercedes. The blaze brings the humannand animal security guards racing outnof the...

servation made by W. SomersetnMaugham, whose truth every real writernknows:n”Sometimes people carry to such perfectionnthe mask they have assumednthat in due course they actually becomenthe person they seem. But in hisnbook or his picture the real man deliversnhimself defenseless. To thenacute observer no one can producenthe most casual work without disclosingnthe innermost secrets of his...

rillas in the mountains. This was impossible.nNevertheless, Wyden believes,nthe operation was not completely hopeless.nIt was a “wild gamble,” but notn”mad,” and with all its defects the plannmight have been carried out successfully.nPresident Kennedy wrecked anynchances of success by blandly ignoringnthe requirement—which the CIA seemsnto have made reasonably clear—for thendestruction of Castro’s air force. ThenPentagon had...

finally seen the light, while I’ve nevernerred and still receive no dramatic recognition?”nAs best I understand, the parablensignifies the high value communitiesnshould put on w^o/esomeness, and thendemands that valuation places on responsiblencitizens. A similar theme isniterated in the parable of the lost sheep,nand the duty of the good shepherd tonreconstitute his flock.nObviously, there is good...

Outdated GomorrahsnJames Baldwin: Just Above MynHead; Dial Press; New York.nby Allan C. BrownfeldnIn an essay written in Partisan Reviewnin 1949, when he was twenty-four,nBaldwin declared his determination tonreject the path of protest which a blacknwriter in America was expected to pursue.nRather than depict the black mannas “merely a member of a Society ornGroup” who has...

cause they were not black, and could notnimagine that they terrified white peoplenbecause white people are not white …”nJOaldwin has been living in self-imposednexile in the south of France fornmany years. His comparison of Birmingham,nAlabama, to Sodom and Gomorrahncould hardly come from onenwho has observed the dramatic changesnin race relations in the American Southnin recent...

als, The Dogs of March would be anrather typical antipastoral creation detailingnthe struggles of a man who livesnby instinct and the feel of things againstnthe civilized mentality and its passionnfor abstractions, rules of law and powerngames. Hebert’s experience of the worldnis an insightful and convincing journeynthrough the consciousness of a characternin the process of a...

two—it made no difference. A goodnman was by turns old and young.”nGertrude Stein has commented thatnthere are no true characters, only characterntypes. True artistic vision isnachieved when a character type is soncarefully and precisely drawn that hentranscends the limits of thematics andnreveals insight into the self and thenhuman condition. While the themes ofnRegulation BluesnMurray L....

Dr. Weidenbaum has some harshnwords for corporate executives who paynlip service to the idea of free enterprisenbut regularly seek subsidies, tariffs andnother special privileges from Washington.nHe also suggests that trade associationsnset standards of ethical conductnfor member companies.nWith regard to communicating withnthe public, Dr. Weidenbaum sharesnMilton Friedman’s skepticism of thosencommercials that portray oil companiesnas being in...

his reaction to Franklin Roosevelt. Hisnantipathy to “that man in the WhitenHouse” was open and boundless. Asnthe 1936 election approached, thenTribune ran such headlines as “Onlyn217 days remain to save your country.nWhat are you doing to save it.”” andntelephone operators at the newspaperngreeted incredulous callers with thensame salutation.nAnd as Roosevelt slowly maneuverednthe nation into World...

tant information about the determinantsnof success or it may have more than itsnshare of nonsense. What Jencks and hisnfellow authors have omitted almostncompletely is any theoretical underpinningnfor all of their laborious statisticalnwork. Without adequate theoreticalnunderpinning, we are simply at anloss to say whether the statistics meannanything. For example, among thosenwho teach statistics, a story has...

for ignoring nonrational sources ofnhostility to the market. They reduceneverything to economic self-interest,nand cannot understand the “irrationalnpseudoreasoning” and “chiliastic longing”nwhich are often the basis of hostility.nHe then criticizes noneconomistnintellectuals, such as psychologists andnsociologists, for being reluctant to explorenthe sources of their own hostilenideology. Why is it hard for intellectualsnto explore their own ideologies? Presumablynbecause in...

no more than a car.nMircea Eliade, world-renowned historiannof religion, constructs each symbolnhalf-consciously, knowing that allnexistence has a share of the universalnyet is irrevocably particular, with itsnhapless loves and often pathetic painsn—more hopeless for its limitations butnalso, of course, more beautiful.nThe political dimensions of this novelnare rather complex, as befits a complexnsituation: during the Second World...

statement about that fact. Unfortunately,nhe seems to be unable to definenwhat he wants to say. (BK) DnWaste of MoneynPride andnLiberal PrejudicenJames Aldridge: Goodbye Un-nAfnerica;Little, Brown & Co.; Boston.nby Becki KlutenA man denounces his best friend asnun-American, marries his ex-wife andnadopts his son. This is the plot of JamesnAldridge’s propaganda tract disguisednas a novel; his real...

Puny, but How Great.nHugh Leonard: Da; A Hudson GuildnTheatre-Craig Anderson Production;nDirected by Melvin Bernhardt.nThis is a play about an Irish ArchienBunker who has infinitely larger ambitions:nto symbolize the traps of paternalnlove. Since he is also infinitely lessncharming, witty, comical and richlyndesigned than Archie—while at thensame time attempting to solve some ofnthe weightiest dilemmas of human...

he deserves an Oscar.nThe movie is a minimasterpiece innwhich, for the first time in years, annAmerican film tries to balance contentnand form, substance and technique. Itnis shot in a style of sparse but meaningfulndialogue which successfully delineatesnand interconnects the characters,neven secondary ones, instead of carelesslynsplashing their images on thenscreen. Its very inner tension is an...

goes: “I want to f— you.”nAside from that, the movie, a grimntale about a male whore, is midway betweenna roman de moeurs and a thriller.nSuch a theme, in order to succeed asneither realism or parable, must be saturatednwith wise cynicism and subduedneroticism. However, Mr. Schrader, thencreator of American Gigolo, demonstratesnan awe-inspiring talent for evisceratingneven the...

and commercialized, it does not elicitnthe slightest feeling of the sacred, althoughnpilgrims swarm around it. Andnon the very steps where pilgrimsnapproach the Living Buddha, monkeysnare copulating.nThe Grand Hotel in Taipei is the firstnmajor object to leap to the eye—annenormous, red-columned building, 14nstories high, made to look even tallernas it stands on a hill. It has...

The American ProsceniumnThe OlympicsnAlmost every student of Soviet affairsn—on both the right and left, and in thencenter—agrees that the boycott of thenMoscow Olympics will be a tremendousnblow to the Soviets in terms of realnpolitics, prestige, image, economics andninternal stability.nIn retrospect, only an utterly limitednmind would object to the statement thatnthe world’s participation in the Berlinn1936...

OtcOKnAbout us:n’,,.^fcS«»S8n,/5 in.’> ^.WT”* “7n”Is it possible to create a review of thought and artnthat is distinctive? Chronicles of Culture, a forty-page,nbimonthly review . . . thinks it has the recipe.”n—National Reviewn”Reviews, written primarily by professors of a strongnconservative persuasion, are refreshing in that theynusually go entirely against current popular opinion.nThe comments are well written,...

And the Times reporter adds:n”James Stewart still believes, quitensimply, in God and America. He nonlonger swims in the winter, because,nwith the energy crisis, he thinks it isnunfair to heat his pool.” DnTournalistnnHistory by WSJnTo inaugurate the 1980’s, the WallnStreet Journal ran an editorial by itsnpublisher, Mr. Warren Phillips, innwhich he informed his readers that, andnThe...

Editor’s CommentnWe write these words on the 60th day of the calamity andnhumiliation known as the Iranian crisis. This crisis seems tonus to be more an hour of trial whose magnitude and complexityntranscend the dilemmas of Korea and Vietnam. Thenrudiments of a livable planet are involved; the world ordernwhich may emerge from our lack of...

When, where, and how cosmopolitan terrorism becamenthe client of the Soviet Union is not easy to generalize.nActually, most of the terrorist movements consider thencommunist state an enemy, and with good reason. Nonetheless,nan alliance has been concluded. The cosmopolitannterrorist, whenever he acts against the U.S., Israel, WesternnEurope, prosperous Japan, or just peace and stability aroundnthe noncommunist...

provided the Teheran “students” with arms, instruction,nhandboolfs of subversion and invigilation. The Islamicncommunity within the Soviet Union is the only reHgiousngroup which seems to cooperate smoothly with the Sovietnregime.nSuch an abyss of confusion may spell a catastrophe. It isna source of incoherent hatred toward us as successors tonthe medieval Crusaders and colonialists; the Islamic orthodoxynsees...

American liberal of the Andrew Young brand openly andninsistently wants to assist power-hungry political hoodlumsnall over the Third World: he not only wants tolerance andnhelp for them but also association with them, and is pushingnour country toward some rather smelly friendships. ThenAmerican liberal has refused to listen to the arguments ofnChileans or Israelis or black...

opinions & ViewsnLa Ronde, or the Dance of LabelsnPeter Steinfels: The Neoconservatives:nMen Who Are ChangingnAmerica’s Politics; Simon & Schuster;nNew York,nby Paul GottfriednJne of the most frustrating situationsnfor modern traditionalists is thatnthe political spectrum and the thrust ofntopical issues are always moving awaynfrom them. The left not only sets thenagenda for its own discussion, but, evennmore...

effects of minority quotas, an obviousnpolitical demarcation, nonetheless,nexists between the two camps. For conservatives,nespecially traditionalists likenmyself, the new left and its liberal imitatorsnrepresent more than a mere wartnon the idea structure that the left hasnerected. Cultural nihilism, leveling egalitarianism,nand self-mortifying attachmentnto the cult of the downtroddennhave all fueled the leftist struggle againstnprivilege and traditional social...

utterly incompatible with traditionalnmoral and social values. Whatever thenmerits of this analysis, it seems unlikelynthat the McGovern-Kennedy coalitionnof feminists, abortion advocates, andncounterculture intellectuals can currentlynoutbid the right in accommodatingntraditionalists. As Irving Kristol andnMichael Novak have realized, the capitalistnright is the only place wherentraditional morality and religion arentaken at all seriously in contemporarynAmerican politics.nThe most thoughtful...

fact (or history) and fiction, illusionnand reality. One game is with cycles innmyth, history, individual lives. The universitynin which two members of thencast teach is built on an Indian burialnground; its Latin motto is variouslyntranslated as “The past fertilizes thenfuture” or “The past craps up the future.”nThe Cook-Burlingame family alternatesnbetween names with each newngeneration and...

to grow and change for these characters.nThey represent a failure of insight andnsympathy. Barth has an abundance ofnwhat the Romantics called fancy, a lacknof what Romantics called imagination.nAbove all, the novel needed, but didnnot get, a cutting such as Maxwell Perkinsngave the manuscripts of ThomasnWolfe. Earth’s early story “Lost in thenFunhouse” is one of the...

days. Their Right Stuff glowed beforenthe nation.nWolfe pays the astronauts honest,ngenerous homage. But he is a stylistnfirst, and hero worship is not his style.nWe learn from him that test pilots andnastronauts were and are quite human,nand therefore they occasionally requestednearly landing times in order to hustlenover to the Officers Club for somenrighteous Drinking, to be...

nedys support, in mid-1963- The fearnof the Russians’ “putting a red spot onnthe moon” was gone. A few monthsnlater, so was Kennedy. There werenPolitical LiterarinessnV. S. Naipaul: A Bend in the River;nAlfred A. Knopf; New York.nKurt Vonneguf: Jailbird; SeymournLawrence/Delacorte Press; NewnYork.nby Dain A. TraftonnA good political novelist, like anynnovelist, must keep his art and his...

nation, the Big Man is hidden, knownnonly at second hand through his publicnactions and the stories that circulatenabout him.nMuch of the second half of the novelndescribes an affair between Salim andnYvette, the Belgian wife of a professornat the new “university city and researchncenter.” Through this affair, Naipaulnexposes the way in which the new Africanpoisons not...

the book. Sometimes he simply digressesnin order to make a point. Vonnegut’sncase against America requires persuasivenimages of violence and injustice, butnhe fails to invent them in his fiction. Insteadnhe simply refers to Sacco andnVanzetti from time to time; they providenhim with ready-made means for the evocationnof political outrage. A similarndigression is the story of the...

reason for bringing forth these frivolousnexamples is to shed some light on thenmeaning of “arbitrary and capricious.”nIt helps me, too, to back into the pointnthat only like things should be comparednwith one another. In order to substantiatenthe claim that decisions to executenare arbitrary and capricious we need tonhave those decisions compared with likenones. Before proceeding...

bounds. It cannot defend its citizensneffectively when tfiey go abroad. Thengovernment that is unprepared to killnis living on borrowed time, borrowedneither from its own past, when it wasnprepared to kill, or borrowed from protectivenneighbors ready to take upnweapons in its behalf. That those nationsnof Western Europe, hailed asnprogressive by Mr. Gettinger, whichnhave abolished capital punishment,nmake...

to write a biographical remembrancenof her late husband, always declined,nin part, she said, because of her “lacknof any gift as a writer.” She did, however,nagree to write some “random notes”non the composer and his works. Theynare, for the most part, as schoolgirlishnas this one:n”When he returned to America thenextraordinary difference he found inna New England...