Bryn Mawr grad working on her Ph.D.nat Yale (higher degrees are obviouslyn”in”), lives with a man (who turns outnto be John’s rival, crossing paths beingna characteristic of a comedy of manners)nwhom she just happened to bump inton(she thinks, “Actually she just fell intonthings because she wasn’t cynicalnenough”), and is humble enough to wishn”she was an ordinary person with annordinary mind.” Just the sort of personnto teach young people.nThe world in Falling in Place is populatednby those who are concerned withnstyle, with artifice. Below the glittering,ntrendy fagade, inside the pleasure palacesnwith walls built by the smoke ofnmarijuana (and it’s interesting to notenthat Parker pretends to smoke it, whilenJohn, Nina, Cynthia, etc.—his elders—nactually do), there is a bankrupt world.nYet they keep spending to maintain thenillusion. But as Ann Beattie shows, theynare spending what would be the patrimonynof the children.nAt the end of a comedy, there isnusually an epithalamium. In this world,nthe wedding song has a divorce as itsnprelude, and chances are it will be anfalse wedding: it is so much more convenientnto live together. Although itnseems that some of the characters—nJohn and Nina, Cynthia and her lover—nwill live happily ever after, the realitynof their lives shows that for them, forevernmeans until they change theirnminds.nOn a plane to New York City innMay, I happened to sit next to two welldressed,nmiddle-aged women who werenapparently on their way to visit thenPicasso retrospective. That deductionnhas nothing of Sherlock Holmes in it;nthey were busily reading the write-upsnon the artist and the exhibition thatnappeared in Newsweek and New Yorknmagazines. Nothing like getting thenreal meaty details about art when younhave to fly a few hundred miles to see it.nThe women chatted in italics: (“Oh,nUmmmmmmmmmmmmmnChronicles of Culturendon’t you just Love that!” one said,npointing to a 2″ x 4″ reproduction of anmassive work), and I couldn’t help butnoverhear parts of it—not that I’m annaural snoop, but the seating accommodationsnon a plane make it impossibleneven for the most noble not to auditnsomething. One line will remain forevernin mind, typifying the people who flynfrom Detroit (actually, one of its poshnsuburbs) to New York to see art worknthey’ve read about in Newsweek. Duringna discussion of a dinner party to whichnguests bring something—“potluck” isnwhat most call it—one said to the other,n”Three-bean salad is such a cop-out!nall you have to do is open three cans.”nPerhaps I have the naivete of Miranda,nbut all I can think is, “O brave newnworld, That has such people in’t!”n0 My America! by Johanna Kaplannis one of the things that will keep thatncomment in my mind. The title of thennovel is from Donne’s “To his MistressnGoing to Bed,” which reads, in part:nLicense my roving hands and let them gonBefore, behind, between, above, below.nO my America, my new found land.nMy kingdom safeliest when with onenman manned,nMy mine of precious stones, my empery,nHow blessed am I in this discovering thee!nIn a sense, the discovery of what is historicallynAmerican—dissent—is the subjectnof the novel. That is, Merry Slavin,n28, one of the many offspring of EzranSlavin (“Author, critic, teacher, think-nIn the forthcoming issue of Chronicles of Culture:nToward Conservatismnwith a Human Facen”Podhori-l7 Ireijiii-nllv speats of the danger lo ihenL’niled States as i'”lnian(li/urion – a quiet, humiliatingnMihordiiiation, laiher than lotal deteal . . Bui Finland’sn(xjsitit)!! is nol comparable to that ot llic West. ‘I lie Fumsndid luit CIKWSC ‘} inlaiidi/aiion’ through (.ins.iidui’.nsciipidic or insanitv: i( was ihc liesr tk’jl ibev could gelnunder the cirLumstances. and ihev wcie Milline to fightnlo keep such indi’peiidence as tiie had A poiiij o(nsurrender bv ihe We.st has no such obvious stopping place.nAs rhing.s stand now. it Ux)ks like the West has becomenso debilitated- rationally and moralK – that it’s doubthilnwhether utn deal can be made, let alone one w hirh mightnbe rooted in Westi’rn sell-intertsi. oi which nia [lossessnan .siMimi surial instinii.”n— troni “Podhoiet/’s Monition”nb Alan I. LevinenAlso:nOpinions & Views—Commendables—In FocusnWaste of Money—Perceptibit’.s—The AmericannProscenium—Stage—Screen — Art—M usicnCorrespondence—Liberal Culture—Journalismnnn