Feast' on
Baxter at
sorders
Lisa Rajt
A s Editor
There will certainly be a feast of tal-
t at Borders tomorrow night, destined
.. to satisfy even the
most discriminat-
ing literary tastes.
Charles The appetizer,
Baxter -main course and
dessert will all be
Borders the prose of
esday at 7:30p.m. Charles Baxter,
the University's
Professor of Eng-
lish and Litera-
ture who teaches
in the MFA pro-
im for Creative Writing.
The esteemed Professor Baxter was a
10 National Book Award Finalist for
most recent work of fiction, "The
ast of Love." Consumed with pleas-
by critics, Ann Arborites and litera-
lovers alike, "Feast" garnered
ther attention and acclaim for Bax-
the novel's already well-known and
,hly competent "executive chef."
iet in Ann Arbor, this novel has a
ied cast of well-developed charac-
- from teen coffee shop employ-
to an aging philosophy professor -
tough none of the characters were
ed on real-life people. "They were
quite imaginary. They're meant to
k real, but they're not," states Baxter
rst" could move even the most
1 members of your dinner party
-A RTS TheMchigan Daily - Monday, May 14, 2001- 11
BC brings compelling
'iary of Anne Frank' to life
Courtesy of Keith E. Johnson
to raise their glasses and toast the
power, and sometimes surprising pres-
ence, of love. Showing stp in the most
unexpected places, Baxter asserts that
love is a force to always be reckoned
with.
What factors inspired such an opti-
mistic, feel-good tale? According to
Baxter, "Two things. A performance of
'A Midsummer Night's Dream' at my
son's school when he was in the eighth
grade, and a book by Vivian Gornick
called 'The End of the Novel of Love,'
which argued that the novel of love is
dead as a serious genre. I thought her
argument was interesting but wrong."
Baxter certainly pleads his case well.
"Feast" is to a typical romance novel
what creme brulee is to a Snickers bar.
While the latter is cheap and can be
easily produced, taking little skill and
effort to create, the former is the con-
scientious work of a talented artist. So
it is with "Feast" compared to the aver-
age novel of love.
The merits of "Feast" have been rec-
ognized by both the National Book
Award Committee and the public, fur-
ther proving Baxter's argument that
love stories can have literary value (as
well as commercial appeal).
Work up a healthy appetite and enjoy
some "gourmet" literature at Borders
tomorrow night, where Baxter will read
from "The Feast of Love," followed by
a discussion and signing.
By Jennifer Fogel
Daily Arts Editor
It can be hard to be objective when it
comes to reviewing entertainment based
on historical fact; even worse when it is
have understood
your entire life. As
Anne May sweeps draw
Frank to a close, ABC
presents another
ABC biographical-
Sunday & Monday based miniseries,
at 9 p.m. this time taking up
the challenge of
accurately present-
ing the life of
Anne Frank.
"The Diary of
Anne Frank" is the
most read non-fiction work in the world
after the Bible. Anne's diary has become
an introduction to the Holocaust for
many, and continues to challenge even
the most pessimistic of us to accept that
there is hope in the midst of great
tragedy. This young girl, a complete
stranger, has imposed her story onto all
of us; now ABC is not only bringing
you a visual representation of the novel,
but filling us in on what became of
Anne after she left the "secret annex"
The movie is not based on the diary
itself, but takes its story from Melissa
Muller's own biography of Anne. The
miniseries takes us to Amsterdam
before the beginning of the war, reveal-
ing a childish and curious Anne whose
only care in life was her dreams of
becoming a modern women. Eventually
these dreams turn into hope as Anne and
her family went into hiding. Hidden
away, Anne lives out the most important
years of her life confined in an attic with
only her diary as an outlet for her pain.
Of course we all know the story and
how it ends, but like many of the previ-
ous ABC miniseries ("Me and My
Shadows: The Judy Garland Story,"
"The Three Stooges") "Anne Frank"
takes on a life of it's own. We tingle at
Anne and Peter's first kiss. We shiver as
Anne's hair is shorn. We laugh at the
jokes. We smile at Anne's defiance. Yet,
we never seem to forget that tragedy is
looming. Besides, just when we think
that it's over, we are pelted over the head
with the realization that for the first time
we are actually going to see the end
result. The distance once held between
the words on the page and us is now
depicted on the screen, provided the
answers that we longed for yet didn't
want to believe.
For those who are expecting another
cheesy miniseries, you are in for quite a
surprise. Hannah Taylor Gordon
("Jakob the Liar") portrays Anne with
such conviction that you often forget she
is just a girl posing in someone else's
shadow. "Anne Frank" tries to present
us with an overall picture, one created
from the nuances of "trivial" events in a
teenager's life: The struggle to be seen
as a woman in the eyes of adults, the rift
between mother and daughter, the blos-
soming of young love and the closeness
of a father and his daughter. Anne's
faith, and her constant struggle to stay
above the sadness and trauma that sur-
rounded her, center the movie and make
it more than a standard screen adapta-
tion. Performances by big-name stars
like Ben Kingsley ("Schindler's List")
as Otto Frank and Lili Taylor ("The
Haunting") as Miep Gies top an entire
cast of great performers, each bringing
their own emotion to their characters
and giving us one more reason to sit
back and just be taken in by the story.
The miniseries will air in two parts
starting Sunday, May 20 and concluding
on Monday with a special commercial
free final hour. The movie not only
delves into the lives of Miep and other
friends of Anne's, but will reveal the
identity of the Franks' betrayers as well.
It is an amazement to behold the
courage and faith that one little girl
could bring to life. Her story may only
be but one of many that are still untold,
but Anne's seems to stay with us. This
miniseries not only faithfully depicts her
story, but improves our own understand-
ing of a beautiful and innocent girl that
lost her life amono six million others.
Hannah Taylor Gordon stars as Anne Frank
In the truly inspiring ABC miniseries.
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e pun) for all-new material.
After many delays, the album will
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Iely, this gives Friday's concert-
ers a mere three days to get
quainted with the new material.
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dio now, and the accompanying
lets wdltair onMTV,
Seeing 'Tool lise is always an
event; their unique blend of metal
riffs and haunting melody and
Keenan's costumes and body paint
make for a memorable experience.
He has been known to paint one half
of his body black and the other
white, wear women's lingerie and
appear dressed as a televangelist.
If you happen to catch Tool's show
Friday, and you see something weird,
mind-altering, and/or stupefying,
remember one thing: They are but
men. Rock.
On sale now at the State Theatre ticket office and all Ticketmaster outlets.
Charge by phone 616-373-7000. Buy tickets on-line at www.ticketmaster.com.
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