PAGE TWO
THE MICHIGAN DAILY"
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 7. 1968
PAGE TWO TIlE MICHIGAN DAILY WEUNESIJAY. FEBREARY 7. 1~JIR
Fi i.Iali{a.ehllL D. #. a a a aa alitfY , 1~VV
0
arts festival
l1
Barth's 'Narrative s'-The Medium Is the Metaphor
TIM p urETRS
to Arlrl flinnflnriAlly A.n A.rldifinnAl I r
Bay1.,VJ bAd5a aU awunuioanUy an OuuAaionai S!
This review is not mine. While level to literature in emphasizingI
I was. sitting in the Trueblood the "how" and paralleling it to
Auditorium of the Frieze Build- human thought. He makes us payl
ing last night, waiting for John attention to his means because
Barth to come on stage, this they are saying something too.
bearded limping fellow came up Last summer Barth and his
to me and handed me a few sheets colleagues borrowed an electron-
of paper, He told me that he had ics laboratory used by composers
seenBarth's "act" before and had of electronic music. They were
written-up an excellent critique. given free rein to invent what-
What could I do but" edit it and ever they could, combining the
hand it in to be published? "moving" medium of speech and
This John Barth, professor of sounds with the stolid, unchang-
English at the State University ink word of the printed page. His
of New York at Buffalo, didn't "Narrative.
lecture last night on any theor- vestigation.
etical aspects of modern-day lit- The first Narrative is called9
erature; he is much too vibrant "Echo." Written for "monophonic;
for that. Instead, he "performed" composer and disembodied au-.
three of his recent compositions, thor," the narrative is supposed
"Narratives for Voice and Tape to stand on its own coming solely
Recorder." 'from the tape recorder, it being
Noted for his novels "The Sot- the story-teller. It (our mono-
weed Factor',andmorerecently,phonic composer and/oradisem-
"Giles' Goat-Boy," Barth focused corder) uses the story of the
on the often wide divergence be- Greek nymph Echo, her love for
4%.."+ a a mi at r~r a ai
entirely that her other affairs poor exposition or points out a
seem redundant;" such lines, sen-
sual and yet biting, have become!
part of Barth's style.
The second and most puzzling
of the three Narratives is com-I
posed for "stereophonic tape re-
corder and printed page;", it is a
debate within one character.
Each channel assumes a separate
role in the conflict, and the print- i
ed material (presumably to be
read by the listener, but read by
Barth last night) provides a psy-
chological, analytic, impersonal
comment and review. The chan-
nels leave out words and the page
responds "Fill in the Blank, fill
in the Blank!" The arguing stops
and the page comments on the
weak metaphor.
But is Barth doing more than
commenting by example here?
He shows us a writer filled with
anxiety, and the very conversa-
tion is his literary creation. Barth
fools around with our sense of
relationships so that everything
is part of everything. In the end
all three "voices" in unison ask
simply "How in the world will it
ever?"
The third narrative is the most
sensitive. It is entitled "Auto-
biography" and is scored for
monophonic tape recorder and
visible but silent author." But it
is not Barth's autobiography, the
"I" is not John Barth; the 'I" is
the very tape itself whose father
is the author and whose mother
L is the tape recorder. The speaker
' breathes the "breath of fiction."
"You listeners give me life," it
. says and as the tape slowly runs
through the play-back we see
for real the life of the speaker
passing, second by second. Near
the end the author leaves the
stage and the tape continuestak
ing about its death as we watch
the reels spinning. We are present
at the very second the speaker
dies, as the tape runs out.
Barth has made this polyester
tape "human" and I actually felt
I was watching someone die as
the tape ran through.
Creative Arts
Festival
Wednesday, Feb. 7
ROBERT BECKLEY
Rackham Amphitheatre,
8 p.m.
JOHN HOUSEMAN
Aud. A, Angell Hall, 8 p.m.
Thursday, Feb. 8
JOHN STYAN
UGLI Multipurpose Rm.,
4 p.m.
ONCE FESTIVAL
Union Ballroom, 8:30 p.m.
Friday, Feb. 9
SONIC ARTS GROUP
Union Ballroom, 8:30 p.m.
Sunday, Feb. 11
YOUNG POETS' FESTIVAL
Tom Clark, Ron Padgett,
Ted Berrigan
Union Assembly Rm.,
2:30 and 8 p.m.
Monday, Feb. 12
YOUNG POETS FESTIVAL
Union Assembly Rm.,
4 and 8 p.m.
Tuesday, Feb. 13
YOUNG POETS FESTIVAL
Union Assembly Rm., 8 p.m.
ENDING
"SPLENDID!
INGENIOUS !"
-Time Magazine
"EXCELLENT
PERFORMANCES !"
--Carroll, N.Y. News
-Wolf, Cue Mog.
"YOU JUST HAVE
TO GO SEE IT!"
TONIGHT
Progrom information r 8-6416
"A movie you won't
want to miSs,
--Judih Crst the Today Show
1*
--Cosmopolitan Magazine j s
Thursday
"The Accident"
1
Olds Describes Art-State Battle
Try Daily Classifieds
tween the seemingiy permanent ;
written word as in his novels and
the transience of the spoken word.
He took-up Marshall McClu-
han's terms of "medium" and
"message" and used them to ex-
plain writing as "non-moving"
media. "The medium may be the
message, but it also may be a
metaphor," he explained. Using
the very processes of creating,
speaking, and writing, he is able
Narcissus, Narcissus' own destruc-'
tion, and the blind prophet Teir-
esias' prophecies. Echo pines away
with love for Narcissus, losing her
body, melting away to "pure me-
dium." Combining almost Eliza-
bethan grammar and vocabulary
with modern vernacular, Barth
produces such sharp humor that
the complicated facts of the three
stories seem unimportant. Echo
"has been possessed by Pan so
By NEAL BRUSS are least willing to give them,
The artist and the State are to Olds said. "It's true, of course,
a great extent natural enemies that in a democratic state like
- and this is as it should be, our own there exists a good deal
Prof. Clifton Olds of the art his- of freedom of expression. But any
tory department said yesterday. state sets limits, either written or
"It is absurd in this case to unwritten beyond which the art-
think that the lion indeed can lie ists dare not go.
down with the lamb," he said. "Thera is never any guarantee
"The state, be it democratic or that those limits will everremain
totalitarian, must insist on social, the, same. It is inevitable that the
legal and moral stability. Any art- limits of freedom will be curtailed
ist is dedicated to creation and by by the state when the state is
the very act of creation threatens threatened from within or with-
the status quo." out. Ironically it is at that mo-
Olds discussed "The Artist as ment when freedoms are curtailed
an Enemy of the State" as part of that artists seek even greater free-
the Creative Arts Festival. The doms of expression," he added.
title of the lecture, at least, was "Artists then, become enemies
by Olds intended to be challeng-
animosities are.no worse than the
others we have to live with. They
are facts of life which the artist
must accept and even relish, for
the artist rarely produces unless
he is challenged.
"The idea that art must be as
stable as the state is a denial of
what art is all about - namely
creation and change."
Olds admitted that the conflict
can lead to the persecution of art-
ists by the state - the cup of
hemlock given to Socrates by his
Greek contemporaries. "For those
of you who are artists, I hope the
cup won't be as deadly as it has
been in the past. But if it is you'll
have only those damned pictures
you produce to blame - and I
hope you all survive."
SNEAK PREVIEW TONIGHT
I
3020 Wasntenaw Ph. 434-1782
Between Ann Arbor & Ypsi
Valley
of thfe
Show Time: Wed.-Sat.-Sun.
1:00-3:03-5:06-7:09-9:15
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I
Mon. thru
Thurs.
7 &x 9
Fri.
and
Sat.
1-3-5-
7-9-11
Sun.
1-3-5-
7-9
I
BOGIE...KATIE..
the whole crazy MW-edup
love story Is back In aon
The elchn ..Mte leeches...
the escape tRough the junle...
WIR 103 PIC LS promf
EY KATHARINE
BOGART HEPBURN
s .s. TECHNICOLOR
Bogart's only Academy Award performance.
EXCLUSIVE ENGAGEMENT
Vth Forum
210 S. FTH AVE. 761-9700
ing. "At the back of every aca-
demic mind," he said, "lurks a
desire to be controversial-to fill
auditoriums like Paul Krassner or
Timothy Leary."
The history of art, according to
Olds, has examples of -artists who
were dubbed enemies by the state,
although many artists were perse-
cuted for their personal politics
rather than for their paintings.
The ancient Greek artist Pheidias
was censored for putting a self-
portrait on the shield of the god-
dess Athene in the Parthenon.
Church art was destroyed during
the Reformation.
Art has been attacked in theI
twentieth century for being "de-
generate" or Communist-tinged. A
mural produced by Diego Riveraj
for the Rockefeller Center in New
York City was destroyed when it
was found to contain a small
portrait of Lenin.1
Artists seem to demand free-
doms most at times when societies
of the state almost automatical-
ly," the professor said. "These
Positively
Ends
Thursday
ST =
SHOWS AT
1,3,5
7; 9 P.M.
-N.Y. TIMES
"The Tension Is Terrific !"
"Keeps You Glued. To Your Seat j"
--MICHIGAN DAILY
SNEAK PREVIEW TONIGHT
FIRST RUN FOREIGN DRAMA
Come as late as 9 00 and see both features
Mon.-Tues.; Thurs.-Fri. 7:05-9:18
1
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Starts Today
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FOX EASTERN THEATRES
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Friday 7:00-9:00-11:00
Sat. 3:00-5:00-7:00-9:00'11:00
Starts Today
SUNDAY,
1 :00-3:00-5:00-7:00-9:00
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, UMTIL DARK
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FEATURE TIMES
MON.-THURS. 7:00-9:00
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Friday: W. C. FIELDS CARNIVAL
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L sey& Pn ers aaccident"
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Daily-Bernie Baker
John Barth
Program Information
Dial NO 2-6264
at
1:30
5:00
8:10
only
gasTECHNISCOPE. TECHNICOLOR*
UNIrro ARTST
Starts T ORROW!
ORU S E GAT?
There's a bullet at one end...and t
hangman's noose at the other!
"UNLEASHES THE PENT-UP VIO-
LENCE OF SEXUAL LONGING AND
ONRUSHING AGE. A DISSECTION
OF HUMAN PASSION, ACCENTING
THE MOOD OF HAUNTING IRONY,"
-Time Magazine
"LIKE A PUNCH IN THE CHEST. PUT
TOGETHER BREATH BY BREATH,
LOOK BY LOOK, LUST BY LUST, LIE
BY LIE. A COMPELLING FILM."
-Newsweek Magazine
"A GORGEOUS AND HAUNTING FILM!"
-Esquire Magazine
"TWO MASTER CRAFTSMEN AT
WORK! A FILM TO WATCH WITH
FASCINATION!" -Judith Crist, NBC Today
"ONE OF THE TRULY NOTABLE PIC-
TURES OF THE PAST YEAR!"
-Archer Winsten, N.Y. Post
TWO BEST Dirk- Bogarde - Stanley Baker
FILM AWARDS The Joseph Losey
1967 CANNES ' Production of%
FILM FESTIVAL
aCCident
Screenplay by
t Harold Pinter
Directed by
seph Losey
In Color
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NOTICE!! 11:00 P.M. SHOWING FRIDAY & SATURDAY
"0 EOF THEYEAR'S
10 BEST!
A PICTURE YOU'LL HAVE TO SEE-
AND MAYBE SEE TWICE TO
SAVOR ALL ITS SHARP SATIRIC
WIT AND CINEMATIC TREATS!"
--NEW YORK TIMES
"THE FRESHEST, FUNNIEST AND
MOST TOUCHING FILM OF THE YEAR!"
-SATURDAY REVIEW
"A MILESTONE IN AMERICAN
FILM HISTORY"-STANLEY KAUFFMANN
"THE FUNNIEST COMEDY
OF THE YEAR"--CHICAGO SUN-TIMES
"DON'T MISS IT!"-NBC-TV TODAY SHOW
JOSEPH E. LEVINE
PRESENTS
MIKE NICHOLS
PRODUCTION C
This
Hes
a little
about
his
hfuture
UNIVERSAL
PRESETNIS
IEE VN
EXPLODES INXOACTIONAS
" C ElI V1 IR"
4
I ,Starting
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