Wednesday, February 3, 1971 THE MICHIGAN DAILY Wed9esdoy, Febrciory 3, 1971 THE MICHIGAN DAILY From popsicles to prams Henry Adam Edward Hannibal, ('1O('- LATE DAYS, POQP S IC('LE W E EKS, Houghton Mifflin. $6.95. By HANNAH MORRISON Chocolate Days, Popsicle Weeks is an update of a traditional tale, the American dream tirned sour, Its author, Edward Hannibal. has fortunately managed to inject vitality into what could have been a yawn-inducing subject, prob- ably the reason hie received the Houghton Mifflin literary award. Through the medium of a mod--, ern Horatio Alger, the novel graphically but indirectly ilfus- trates how past attitudes pro- duced current problems: over- industrialization, a sense of fu- tility and facelessness--all the factors lading to a treadmill existence. The anti-hero-the only logical Today's Writers . Richard Wilson is working on a Ph.D. in American Culture and has a strong interest in late ,9 h Century art. Hanna Morrison, a Daily re- porter, picked this b o o k be- cause its title reminded her of her favorite dill-pickle flavored ice cream. Robert White, reviews regu- larly for the Daily. label for him 4s a Bostonian of Irish Catholic parentage. Io se ms fitting and almost inevit- able that, following college and a peaceful stint as an Army offIc- er. Fitzie took hi; growing family and plunged into the rat-race 'f Newv York advertising, precisely because it was not New Eng land. Madison Avenue has been no i- inated by many as the embodl- iment of a sick society, the me- dium for publication of its ills. The disease is contagos. shown by the life of a victim. -"- fore breaking, all Fitzie wanted was enough money to save hi wife and children from the se- cure but marginal life from which he came. But the tr cdrnil does not release the rat so easily. The creature is forced to con- tinue until it drops from exhaus- tion-or dies. Fitzie perceived such rachani- cal forces even in his "'think" Job and communicated this by ccmparing his career to produc- ing popsicles from a huge Tank. his former summer job. Through- out the book the parallels are drawn repeatedy: the advertis- ing-Tank resembles any other. The worker is slve to the ma- chine as well as to his emplovers. No, matter howu- superior your new method, it must be p1re- sented in th context of custom- ary procedures. Fitzie discovered s b.th in the ice cream factory and the advertising agency. In ne. he speCed up operations so workers had a shorter week. 17e was rewarded by their anger r causing them to lose over- time pay. In advertising Fitzie learned it was not the idea that mattered, but how it was ex- PI essed. You had to capitulate and use their terms, otherwise your popsicles, regardless of in- Irmsie value. would not be ac- eped at social teas. To quote Filie. 'Never say anything's great or terrific or funny or a akeoff. Say only how everything serves the strategy, underlines .'e efficacy claim, gets the point over,. registers the flavor story, implies the convenience benefit." Pure Madison Avenue-ese. Fitzie faked out his superiors so successfully that at age thirty, he was appointed vice-president of a prestigious firm. Sadly erough, he faked himself out in the process too, At this point, the novel cap- tures the essence of the mean- ing of 'cooptation by the sys- tom." The principle is: By the time a person reaches a posi- tien of influence, he is so thor- oughl y igrained with prejudics that he feels a vested interest for maintaining a particular order. For instance, Fitzie was un- able to turn off Madison Ave- nlue h hen he left work at night, At home, his resentful w if e punished him with recurring silences. Fitzie could not patch up their marriage with material goods - such as a spacious home on Long Island; so when he later flew to California on a business trip, he toyed with the idea of making it forever. The escape was an exercise in futility. Whether at a party, working, sightseeing or making love - Fitzie's past pursued him relentlessly, coloring his ex- periences. It blocked communi- cation between himself and oth- ers. He returned with a new out- look which he shared with his wife, "It's all lousy and it won't stop being lousy. Fuck them all. I don't have to do anything any- more. I'll do what I can so we can live, but that's all it'll be." Those few sentences comprise the prescription for the machine age: The answer to cooptation, computers and competition is noninvolvement. Fitzie's means of escaping the Tank was to make babies, not money - a throwback to his Catholic upbringing. As he said to his wife, "I've decided every- one is rotten except you and me and I want to get a lot of US running around to piss them all off." That's one solution but what about overpopulation, Fit- zie? Ernest Scheyer, TIE CIRCLE OF HENRY ADAMS: ART AND ARTIST, Wayne State Univer- sity Press, $8.95. By RICHARD WILSON The relationship between the artist and the intellectual has always been an intriguing b u t thorny' problem, especially to those who are seeking a con- nection between the two. It should surprise few readers of Henry Adams' Education t h a t he had an interest in the arts and was a friend or acquaint- ance of a large number of late 19th century artists. Most of those whom Adams namts Richardson, La Farge, the Hunts. St. Gaudens, McKim, the James's, Vedder, Story. and Stanford White) summon up a vision of dark sepia tones, or boring chapters in art text books, of eclecticism, and of dusky, dimly lit museum rooms quickly passed by. Inevitably, scholars would wonder about the relationships of these artists to one of 19th Century America's most prom- inent intellectuals. Certainly there must have been something to the fact that the great archi- tect H. H. Richardson was a friend of. and built a house for, Adams. Adams was an intimate friend and a co-discoverer of s andj Japanese South Seas art with the painter and stained-g 1 a s s artist John La Farge. Also, one of the most significant sculp- tural pieces of the 19th Century, the Adams' memorial in Rock Creex Cemetery, by Augustus St. Gaudens. was commissioned by Adams. Finally, Adams was intensely interested in the inter- play of art and history as ex- emplified in his Mount St. Michel and Chartres. There is plenty 'of room for speculation then, as Adams him- self often mentioned, on the connection or 'unity' between these artists, and intellectuals. But unfortunately something is lacking, either in Ernest Schey- er's study, The Circle of Henry Adams: Art and Artist, or in Adams himself, Scheyer is dili- gent: he has read all of Adams' books and letters, he has survey- ed most of the studies on Adams and a few on his compatriots, and he has assembled most of Adams' remarks and thoughts on art, even to including his wife, Marion's, feelings. Adams had some remarkable insights on the course of Amer- ican society, on the unity of the arts and sciencesin the Middle Ages, and on, the importance of a few of his artistic friends. But there are gaps. He s a w nothing in our so-called "mo- dern art" (i.e. Impressionism, Post Impressionism, Whistler,. et. al.). Adams never had an understanding of oriental art such as La Farge was able to develop. His actual influence on St. Gaudens' great work is dub- ious. With Richardson the rela- tionship is below expectations; Adams complained about costs and disliked Richardson's de- coration. The influence of Adams on Richardson is nil, al- though Richardson might have had some on Adams. Adams' in- terest and knowledge of the arts was better than the aver-\ age. man's, but not advanced or avant garde. He was a member of the aristocracy of culture of the late Victorian period; his taste was "later idealism," and, nieno his relationship with more social than crew The problem witI such as Scheyer's i doesn't go far enoug enough. Reprinting o from letters and identi the fictional chai Adams' artistic novi merely skim the surf; Scheyer takes literally claim that he foundec tic circle with himse center and V-arying c membership. A comi interests is perhaps term that would incl' architects, writers, co tellectuals, and othe interest in the. arts. head or central foc found is doubtful, bu est thing was probabl munity in New York booksbooksbooksbooksbc not in Washington,-D.C some of the major figur 19th Century, Ruskin E let Le Duc, who undoubt some bearing on Ada only briefly mentibned. Scheyer's work is in but it leaves the read some doubts as to Adam ence on the visual arts hap, for the- more in tive reader, a sense of d Happy road iieaven Lately Thomas, STORMING HEAVEN: THE LIVES AND TURMOILS OF MINNIE KEN- NEDY AND AIMEE SEMPLE McPHERSON, William Morrow, $10.00. By RQBERT C. WITE In the fall of 1918. as Woodro '.' Wilson headed for Versailles wilh a plan for world peace tucked under his arm, thousands of others packed their bags and bravely turned westward, seik- ing escape from national and p(-, sonal tensions h, the warmth of the California sunshine. Among them was a young 'o- man and hqr mother--Aimee gelus Temple was completely "built, equipped. and paid for. And today, in spite of the fact that Aimec and her mother hax e long since passed away. teir Four-square Gospel Church eo tinm in en Uder the direction cf Ainmce's son., Rolf MePlersen. the clhu"i boasts more han Th rmone churches in the United Staes and Canada not counting over seas missions, and a membet sip which exceeds 198.900. . The author, of the account (4 this prodigious rise to gloiw is the w ell-published. but pseud.- nymious. Lately Thomas. ln dvi 1ion tot his earlier worK en A e McPherson (th7e Vanishing lx - are, in any case, same faul !in- herent in Thomas's 'social his- torian' approach. For the past twelve years <(,he time it took' to write the bock) Thomas las seemingly rummaged through old newspaper clpPings. radio trans- sci ipts legal documents, and alarently., even the attic trunks of a few old ladies in Pasaden.. The results, to put it mildly, are ox'er ,xhelming. As one reaches the conclusion of this 350 page hook. he feels as if every possib> detail had been' unscrupulosl y &redged up and placed before hint in a generally bemusing, but all;too frequently. embaras- ;ing, fsin To wvit : at the time of Aimee McPherson's funeral in D94., seventy-five city po- licemen controlled the throng" wh-le 'fifty thousand mourners passed the bier" to see Aimee resting in a bronze casket lined with quilted white satin" which weighed --tx el hundred pounds and cost ten thousand dollars." Somehow o ne has the feeling i 'c., Wikani Manchester nit- picking about the Kennedy assas- s1 ins at the time were 'ten dollars mid a tambourine." For years lat:er. as testimony to her powers of evangelical persuasion. the An- For the student body: Genuine PENavy PEA COATS ang'elist), Mr. 'Thonmas his six cltidin he Frt 1esdn Johnson. And should the ra question Thomas's cirdetials. ne may turn to the dust jackt fl:) wxhere Allan Nex is deserm~s Thomas a "the finst social s- torian writing today.'' Presumably. this accolade is worthy of the writer, but the L 6. PREGN ANT? NEED HELP? PREGNANT? NEED FLP Abortions are now legal in New o'k Ciy tp to 24 wees 'l Aborim i ReIerral Service will aa1 membe !)r of tNt ional0sOrganiation to Legalize Abortion. CALL -1215-878-5800 for totally confidential in- formation. There are no shots or ills to terminate a preg- nancy. Th medicaion are iended to induce a late per- iod only. A good medal test is your best 1st action to insure our chance or choice et a test immediately. Our preg- nincy counselng service wii provide totally confidential am rnatix'es to yotr pregnancy We have a lainy list of those ice. have ahadtasited should you ii to v y this e ice COPY OUR NUMBER FOR FUTU~RE REFERENCE: MACROBIOTIC, VEGETARIAN and HEALTH FOOD COOKBOOKS at C.ircl Bookshop 215 S. 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