I ARTS The Michigan Daily Wednesday, February 17, 1988 Page 8 Geoffrey olff finds fictionintruth Jennifer BrOstromPost and Newsweek, as well as a literary critic and contributing editor facts" and actual occurrences. for New Times and Esquire. Currently, Wolff is a literary critic and It is Wolff's clear, witty style - a style of writing that is never Art is above all a process of repudiation, whereby the chaotic this- contributing editor for The New England Monthly. alienating - that helps to reveal the character's personality. Wolff esA s a boveha llroess of lfa resh pditon, ereby thre, caoti this- Although Wolff is currently at work on a biography of Herman characterizes his father: "...and it began then, waiting for those blue, ess and thatness of life are shaped into a semblance of order, and this is Melville, a decidedly "major" figure, Wolff's past interest in writing tissue-thin envelopes (not so many of them, either), covered like a fa- true of a 'real' book - biography let's say - as of anTunreal' book, biographies has largely been geared toward exploring what is interesting natic's bumper with gummed instruction, warnings, expostulations: Cite Henry James' Washington Square, Charles Dickens' Tale of Two about the "minor life" of an individual "that seemingly has no major FRAGILE ... DO NOT BEND... RUSH! ... SPECIAL HANDLING... Accrins To eath in Vice r significance to other lives." URGENT COPY ... EXPEDITE! My father actually believed that According to Geoffrey Wolff, a biographer and novelist, there is a In his biography Black Sun, for example, Wolff describes the special requests received special treatment. In fact many of his letters aruith"inction between the "truth" fwriting a biography, and the "minor life" of Harry Crosby: a man who lived a reckless, fearless life, never arrived. That is, some checks never arrived. That is, my mother eitd" involved in writing a completely fictional story. In his essay and wrote many poems ("only a few of them not awful") before had my father's assurance that he had sent -PRIORITY- some checks Scientific fact" is "unavailable to literary narrative," even if that narra- committing suicide. The disappointed response of some critics was, that never arrived. Perhaps they drew too much attention to ii bihfwho would care about such a man? Who would write about him?"themselves. lveA s iograp. hIn his essay, "Minor Lives," Wolff responds that "Simply: his story Wolff is, above all, consistently honest in his portrayal of individual At the same time, however, there is a different kind of truth stuck in my mind." In Black Sun, Wolff "hoped to understand a man, character, in biography as well as fiction. At the end of "Minor Lives," oncerning the feelings and motives of human beings that may be not to have unriddled the secret of man." he states, "There is a kind of truth that should be within reach of a par- rithin the reach of both the biographer and the writer of fiction. A similar interest in understanding an individual's personality, and ticipant in the events of his narrative, however difficult that truth may hrough his extremely honest narrative style, Wolff will demonstrate what causes him to live a certain way, is revealed in The Duke of De- be to grasp. It is the kind of truth that can be won by a willingness to his aspect of his art when he reads today from his nvel-in-progress, ception: Memories of my Father. The biography/autobiography reflects distinguish between what a writer feels he should have felt at a particu- 'he Final Club.Y Wolff is the author of the novels, Bad Debts, The Sightseer, Wolff's effort to understand who his father was, and to understand the lar moment, and what he really felt." Inklings, and Providence; and the biographies, Black Sun, andThe impact of his father's life and death on his own life. Like a work of GEOFFREY WOLFF will read today at 4 p.m. in the Rackham Duke of Deception. He has taught at several universities and is also an fiction, this biography reveals an attempt to discover and understand an West Conference Room as part of the Visiting Writers Series. In the experienced journalist. Wolff has been Book Editor for The Washington individual's true character, as well as a biographical recounting of "real same room at 8 p.m. STEPHEN DUNN will read from his poetry. It' s Oscar tim By David Peltz Though it may be hard to believe, spring is not that far off. Trust me, it isn't. And with the melting snow and warmer temperatures comes the inevitable slew of awards for our Hollywood heroes. Earlier today, the nominations for this year's Academy Awards were announced in Los Angeles, in anticipation of the March 27 ceremony. Glittering gowns, endless speeches, stale production numbers. Yes, prepare the family limo and find the No-Doz -it's Oscar time again. The Academy award nominations generally bring little surprise. It's a time for the Jack Nicholsons and Meryl Streeps of the world to break put the smiles and crank up the modesty. As is the case with the other major entertainment awards, (Grammy, Emmy, and Tony), the Oscar is held captive by a most- conservative panel of judges, and emancipation for the little gold statuette doesn't appear likely in 1988. Though the nominations were unavailable as of press time, certain rames are almost guaranteed to turn up, names like William Hurt, Albert brooks (Broadcast News), Elaine $tricth (September), and Olympia Dukakis (Moonstruck). Don't get me wrong. These are all great actors, and their respective performances may indeed warrant such high praise. But the Academy will invariably continue their longstanding tradition and omit several other equally qualified candidates. The reason is simple; certain types of film are viewed by the Academy as being inferior, and it has become customary for the actors who appear in these films to be convienently overlooked when it comes time to hand out the awards. In 1985's Runaway Train Jon Voight and Eric Roberts were brilliant as two vicious escapees from a maximum security prison. Both actors received Oscar nominations, but neither won. The absence of an award for Voight's performance was particularly glaring, as it was undoubtedly the finest of his career. You can be sure that the reason for Voight's exclusion had little to do with his acting ability. He was left out because Runaway Train was an action/adventure film, and thus it didn't meet the Academy's 'high standards.' But of all of the genres routinely neglected by the Academy, it is the comedy film which may be the most under- represented of them all. Since the Academy Awards were first presented in 1929, comedies have rarely emerged victorious in the Best Picture catagory. When Frank Capra's It Happened One Night captured all five major honors (film, actor, actress, director, and screenplay) in 1934, it became the first comedy ever to receive the top prize. Since then, only seven other comedies have achieved such a e agail distinction, the last being Woody Allen's classic 1977 comedy/drama Annie Hall, and James L. Brook's 1983 blockbuster, Terms of Endearment. In the latter, Nicholson and co-star Shirley Maclaine were able to walk away with the top acting honors, but that, too has been the exception and not the rule. The Academy seems to look at comedic acting as being somehow easier to pull off than drama, and outstanding comedy performers have been overlooked throughout the history of the awards. Even a brilliant comic talent like Charlie Chaplin, whom George Bernard Shaw claimed "was the only genius developed in motion pictures," never once was able to come away with the Best Actor stauette. Instead, he received only countless nominations and an 'honorary Oscar.' Chaplin was punished for making his craft look so easy. A similar fate befell Dustin Hoffman just six years ago, as his outstanding work in Tootsie went unrewarded at the 1982 Oscar ceremonies. 1987 saw two of today's top comedic talents in the finest roles of their careers. Steve Martin was both hilarious and touching as C.D. in Roxanne, and Robin Williams' heartfelt performance in G o o d Morning ,Vietnam was close to stunning. The films showed the actors at their very best, and accolades came in from everywhere. Both did tremendous business at the box office, and the critical community responded with an almost unanimous 'thumbs-up'; it is a rarity when any film, much less a comedy, is able to garner support I cant t hardly, wait from both the public and the press. But the real test will come today, however, when the Academy hands out its selections for the best of 1987. If recent speculation holds true, Martin may indeed be rewarded with a Best Actor nomination, and there is even an outside possibility that Roxanne may be selected as one of the year's five best films. Both are equally deserving of such tribute, and a nomination for Martin would finally earn him recognition as one of Hollywood's brightest stars. But Williams may not be so lucky. A nomination for the Michigan native appears to be highly doubtful. Like Chaplin, Williams has been cursed with the talent for making comedy look easy, and this has never been more apparent than in Good Morning ,Vietnam. Here, director Barry Levinson set Williams free and let him do what he does best - be funny, and he does it so effortlessly that it's often easy to forget he is only acting. Williams' performance is so convincing that it just may end depriving him of a chance at the coveted Oscar. If Williams is indeed overlooked, it will be a crime of monumental proportions, serving to shed even more light on the already glaring prejudices of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Hurry up! Rent those tuxedos and prepare yourself for the parparazzi. If you listen closely, you can just almost hear those acceptance speeches now. Yes, the Oscars are approaching. I can't hardly wait. Wednesday, February 7:30pm Hosted by Amazin' Blue 17 ,a "P tt- A / w' V*0 p ~9'~s~ swirboundoo 7 .11 . / -7 o'teo $a Mendelssohn Theatre, Michigan League i kc o't f, F 0 ,x 1 All profits benefit Sickle Cell Anemia Reserved seating $3.50 $4.00 at the door Tickets available at M.Union Ticket Office w Clda ly l7L~ n ni~ i waidnt EiiI- QnivE~ltt, of Jl/ Cf~1an to attend fouwz on Ofl2a2i. 21, 1988 2 to 4,#n2 of t~IE Education CEnti'Z at * EfzEdhmint± and tows iof St. JOSi Ih G'/(i'rCy cJTor/lataL' and .cllMErayw'ood c9,eaL'tI~fii Duidn iff[ L- ftouvided. '14we 'ook forw'a td to sJa'z1ny uxt/ you the me v'iilon of f#'o f~sionaf nuwsn9 wE az E 'riatin9jat Cat Ivzime Jl'tC4-z4uL'y c-4aft/ Cgnti'r. -SIPL'asiE cal'Lusjat The University of Michigan Department of Recreational Sports presents SUMMER SOFTBALL I 4 I Classics Adult Slow-Pitch Leagues Mass Meeting February 24-6:00 p.m. Room 3275 Central Campus Recreation Building 401 Washtenaw CHOICE playing fields CHOICE location/lights/parking CHOICE umpires CHOOSE Co REC C-Men's B, C, D Single or double header leagues 4 d