V Page 6-Sunday, January 15, 1978-The Michigan DilyThe Michigan Daily The Michigan Daily--5und+ BOOKS 'SPOR TSCAR '- Comic rehash of an old dilemna FILM/christopher The intent of this two-part story is not to summarize the storyline of Close En- counters of the Third Kind, nor to attempt a straight critical review. It is a step-by-step chronology of my personal introduction to the film and of my changing dissimiliar to any other I can remember. To those un- acquainted with Close 'Encounters and who may wonder what I'm babbling about, I can only urge you to see the film for your- self-then see it again, and yet again. It's a secret to be shared. December 14th. Anticipation! Aft- ernoon descends into evening, and I'm doing emotional-aesthetic som- ersaults with the rapidity of a fast the intervening phenomenon of Star Wars, far from stealing Close En- counters' thunder, seemed only to whet collective appetites for an event which promises to be even more spectacular in its blending of techni- cal innovation and dramatic profun- dity. The critics, mostly, have loved it (I promised myself I wouldn't read reviews in advance of the film, but swiftly succumbed to the tempta- tion). Even Pauline Kael has given it her enthusiastic, if somewhat conde- scending, blessing. The radicalism of such a reversal can hardly be understated. Through- out most of its history, science fiction potter by the critics or, indeed, by these films' own creators. Well, no more, my snotty-nosed friends: the day of interstellar reversal has arrived. Where we ing I call shortly with a histori+ import By Eric Zorn SPORTS CAR MENOPAUSE By Page Stegner Little, Brown & Co.: New York $8.95 L ET NO ONE ACCUSE Page Stegner of penning weighty prose. His latest novel, Sports Car Menopause, is a, mere bagatelle: charmingly entertaining and witty, but inconsequential. This story of a middle- aged English professor quixotically grasping at "freedom and the last chance for whoopee" goes no deeper than a mordant blasting of the pseudo- hip academic society and a parody of the crisis of encroaching age. Stegner's style is as clever and quotable as Peter DeVries', but his hackneyed plotting and situational Eric Zorn is an English major in the Residential College. development are less moving. Still this book remains so light and fresh in its sniping that it steers well clear of any ponderous "insights" which tend to plague popular fiction these days and thus remains satisfying. The anti-hero is Eliot Warren, the resident author and critic at a "'modern, experimental, innovative, and progressive' institution in the California system of higher education." The narrator, Eliot, describes his. frankly unfounded impatience with his four year old child who sucks his thumb, and his wife, Erica, who doesn't care to do housework: As communiction breaks down and Eliot retreats into his study for all meals in an attempt to cure a severe writer's block, Erica Warren shines: "You know it wouldn't kill you to practice spoken English for fifteen minutes a day." The modern college student also causes Eliot incessant irritation. One of his literature students complains, "Papers! Oh Shit! I can't write papers!" Arlington, a creative writing student insists, "You're not supposed to understand (my story), like with your mind or anything, you're supposed to groove on it.... The warp and woof of word texture." Alas, Eliot does not suf- fer fools gladly, and he begins to feel like the least grotesque element in an environment of fatuous spaced-out liberals, a man simmering in his own private hell. Compounding Eliot's personal problems is his errant cynicism which alienates all but his most zealous sup- porters: during one of their final -arguments before Eliot finally moves out on her, Erica complains, "All of a sudden your cruddy old (wife) becomes real interesting." He grasps her hands earnestly and replies, "Really in- teresting. Real is the wrong part of speech. What you want here is an ad- verb." He later interjects, "I was unable to resist a short lesson in usage when she informed me in a shaky voice that she was 'nauseous.' ". It's an act of tense, baffling See SPORTSCAR, Page 8 aficionados used to g copies of Asimov and display our Ellisons with the hip pride th seeing oneself metam kook into a tastemake A ND AT LAST Ho moneymen hav trendy crest of the new sports Car Menopause An, encounter with... PAGE 3UFONFR heartbeat. Francis Coppola may never get around to finishing Apoc- alypse Now, but America's other breathlessly awaited surreal wonder has arrived at last: Close Encounters of the Third Kind premieres tonight. A CTUALLY, it's still a frustrat- ingly belated situation. I was set to attend a special press preview of Steven Spielberg's film in Detroit a week earlier, but earthly distortions, in the form of an eight-inch snow storm, ragingly intervened. I've thus been forced to wait another six days. In truth, it's not that much of an addi- tional hardship; many science fiction fanatics, myself included, have al- ready hungered for this moment for more than two years, ever since Spielberg announced his super-celes- tial project concerning our first direct contact with alien beings. And shamefacedly endured as an aber- rant stepchild of both literature and cinema, a loony deviation shuffling along in step with the horror film, the beach party film and other gimmicky mutants geared to sparsely select groups within the film-going public - works seldom taken seriously either guiltily hide our Clarke, we now s and Delanys hat comes from iorphose from a er. llywood's stodgy ve grasped the wave. How sweet Dece Fox V feeling where. exalta to clari The ov proved theate 'Close Ei R i 1 p/v/ F., I Stevenson S lonely By Brian Blanchard ADLAI STEVENSON AND THE WORLD By John Barthlow Martin Doubleday: New York, 1977 $15.00 I N HIS CHRONICLE of the 1960 presidential campaign, T. H. White observed that Adlai Stevenson drew the same lines between public affairs and politics that some people use to separate love and sex. White observed that the Democrat who ran for President two-and-a-half unsuc- cessful times ('52, '56, '60) paid dearly for his influential role in diplomacy and policy making by having to participate in the messy business of politics. Stevenson's image of the reluctant politician has become almost a cliche today. While'searching for a volume of Stevenson's papers at a local book store recently, I overheard one employe inform another that "Ste- venson was more of an intellectual than a politician." The Origins of this widely-held notion about the former governor of Illinois are clearly documented in John Barlow Martin's second Steven- son volume, Adlai Stevenson and the World. Toward the beginning of this 946-page biography that covers the three campaigns and later years as the American UN representative, one of Stevenson's closest friends and advisors recalls, "There was (the urge to be a) gentleman, the high- Brian Blanchard is a Daily staff writer, class, civilized, intellectually-mind- ed man. The other was the desire to hold public office in a particular country where the candidate has to comply with the rules. They were always in conflict." White's "Making of the President" :Ft: f' . '. C, fPt" '. ?.°ii=. .,31 ^ :l '+1 R for many years, has illustrated how the method of day-by-day scrutiny can beyreadable and significant. Mar- tin's well-researched two volume set, (the first was Adlai Stevenson of Illinois) could be the best biography of an American politician yet. IS SUCCESS lies at least in part' H1with the nature of his subject. Over and over, Stevenson missed opportunities to inspire crowds and, win votes because of his pride of authorship and his care with words. His staff criticized him ,repeatedly ourney for working up to the last minute on speeches instead of using an all- purpose text or speaking extempor- aneously. He also seemed more interested in having his audience digest his ideas than in warming them up, pacing for applause, and playing the games we've come to expect from politicians of every stripe, from professors in large lecture halls to presidential candi- dates. , This perfection in style was sympt- omatic of Stevenson's larger inabil- ity to yield to the limitations of politics. He never quite learned the art of compromise. For example, during the first critical primary of the '56 campaign Stevenson refused to endorse a farm price support that Minnesota's farmers wanted. He had grown corn in Illinois and said that he knew price supports weren't the answer to grumblings in the bread- basket. Minnesota rewarded Estes Kefauver with the primary victory. But it is a measure of Martin's skill as an author that I just barely resisted the urge to turn to the book store employe who had called Steven- son an intellectual to tell him he was wrong. Stevenson brought.breadth of knowledge, integrity, and facility with language back to American politics during the McCarthy years. I would, however, have referred the salesman to his shelves to read Martin: "Wanting to read a book was something to talk about but not do. He was not really an intellectual." The diary of Stevenson's life in in- ternational politics until his sudden death in 1965 is in some ways a sad one. He participated in many cor- respondence relationships, keeping. See STEVENSON, Page 7 ,, 1 +s-= f, , fl J ani it suddenly is: no more campy mon- sters and shoestring budgets, no more special effects so inept that a five-year-old would burst out laugh- ingwhile watching them. No more Plan Nine From Outer Space or Catwomen on the Moon - we've finally gone legit. Kubrick blazed the initial trails, Lucas brought the genre financial credence, now Spielberg will hopefully lift it to philosophical sublimity. Basking in this wave of cult vindication, I make plans for the even- be jam out to deletir promi happe dragge inebria to tall throug then b how ti the irid I st dt _ l . .. ---> JIRIDG(di7/ ken parsi ian . . . T T WAS THE last round of the chal- lenge match and tensions were run- ning high. The event had been billed "The ultimate test of luck versus skill,"z and, so far, it had lived up to its name. For example, on one early hand Mark managed to bring home a tenuous grand slam via a double guard squeeze, but it was all for naught since Jim gar- nered the same result with three finesses and a three-three break in clubs. The lead shifted back and forth with Mark's team-Mark, Frank, Jeff and Alan-bidding and playing flawlessly, but often being sabotaged by the in- spired inanity of Jim's foursome-Jim, Mitch, Jack and Greg. For the final hand I was seated behind Mark, who sat nervously summing the score while his left-hand opponent opened this auction: W(Mitch) N(Frank) E(Jaek).. AMark) 3C DBL. 3D 4NT 5D Pass 6D ????? Mark knew this call would probably decide the match, and he peered at his cards, hoping for some inspiration. This was his hand: SK lox xxx HKQxxx D Cxx He wasn't pleased with his own 4 no trump bid, but he was behind in the match, and since his counterparts in the other room would undoubtedly bid and make game in either hearts or spades, he decided to take a shot at a small slam. The prospects, however, were not good. Frank's pass was-a con- ventional call showing an even number of aces (when the opponents interfere over Blackwood 4NT you Double with See BRIDGEPage 8 " I ' is 1 1' AMR 009 1 series has been criticized for pushing the orientation of campaigns, and now politics in general, away from issues and towards personalities with its trivial lists, menus, and schedules of the candidates. Martin., who knew Stevenson well and worked as an aide -.