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EIGHT
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
SUNDAY, MAY 12, 1957
AULKNER'S 'THE TOWN':
Replaces Action with Tedious Talk T
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r
(Continued from Page 4y
with his ridiculous exhibitions of
gallantry and engaging in pom-
pous and adolescent pronounce-
ments about women and the world
which are almost as painfully
pointless and empty as the con-
versations of the Colonel and the
Countess in Hemingway's Across
the River and Into the Trees. ..
AS IF RESPONDING to this
weakness of central conception,
the narrative texture of The Town
is notably vague and loose. Faulk-
ner seems to expect that readers
now take for granted the precise
nature of Jefferson and its in-
habitants as they have been dealt
with elsewhere, and scarcely al-
ludes to them as other than fan-
tasmal ciphers whose role now ap-
pears almost gratuitous.
This is readily apparent if we
compare the treatment of charac-
ter and atmosphere in The Town
to the. wonderful delineation of
Flem Snopes in The nHamlet
through scores of telling details
and decisive encounters, or to
the evocation of the great forest
in the opening pages of "The
Bear".
The events and characters of
The Town are hazy and indistinct,
as if filtered through a fog of'
words which do not form a con-
certed stylistic pattern in rela-
tion to the overall plan of the
novel, as is the case with Faulk-
ner's best works.
The style of The Town is cer-
tainly more restrained and read-
able than that of A Fable, but it
is rather colorless and flat and
never really comes alive. Com-
pare, for example, the episode of
Major de Spain's punctured tire
with that of the spotted horses in
The Hamlet.
Scholarly investigators will un-
doubtedly find The Town a rich
source of the alterations and em-
endations effected by . Faulkner
upon the Yoknapatawpha legend
in many of his works, such as the
resuscitation of Nancy in Requiem
for a Nun or the successive stages
in the evolution of the character
of Ratliff (whose initials, we now
learn, stand for Vladimir Ky-
rilytch!).
A FIRST reading reveals at
least one interesting change: the
author has engaged in another of
his deliberate anachronisms by
setting Gavin Stevens and Chick
Mallison back in time a decade or
two. In Intruder in the Dust,
whose action takes 'place about
1943 or '44, these characters are,
respectively, "50-plus" and 16
years old.
In The Town, at the time of
Eula Snopes' death in 1927, Ste-
vens is around 45 and Chick 12.
Such are the manipulations and
afterthoughts of Faulkner, who is,
after ally "sole owner and proprie-
tor" of Yoknapatawpha, his own
private metaphor of the South
and of the world.
The intricate and significant re-
lationship between the nature of
Faulkner's work-his style, struc-
ture and vision - and the world
which has formed and nurtured
him has rarely if ever been studied
with any kind of sound thorough-
ness, despite the fact that he is
one of the most talked about writ-
ers in modern American litera-
ture.
Until such a study is made, the
possible causes of his failure to
make his novels of recent years
equal or surpass the power and
intensity of his finest work will
remain conjectural.
In the meantime, it can be as-
serted that such a failure is again
evident in The Town. Those of us
who admire ' Faulkner's true
genius as a novelist can only hope
that it will yet give us further
works of genius in the future.
'GILDED TORCH':
Iola Fuller Displays Depth,
Warmth of Human Feeling
POGO-Delta Tau Delta and Delta Delta Delta's entry cross finish line in Darby heat. Grand Darby race winners were Delta Sigma Phi and Alpha Gamma Delta.
(Continued from Page 3)
wilderness. Sincethere is no way
to evade the duty imposed upon
him, he induces his brother also
to join La Salle.
The author follows Francis
Parkman's La Salle and the Dis-
covery of the Great West pretty
closely in narrating La Salle's ac-
tivities in the New World: the
building of the Griffin, the thous-
and-mile trip across southern Mi-
chigan and on to Quebec in the
spring of 1680 to raid additional
funds, his triumph over the ma-
chinations of his enemies, and his
successful descent of the Missis-
sippi, claiming the heart of the
continent, which he named Lou-
isiana, for the King of France.
* * *
VICTOR AND MARC share all
the dangers and labors of their
leader. At first appalled by the
rigors of life in the wilderness,
they become inured to hardship
and glory in their ability to match
his endurance. Loathing the role
of spy which he is forced to play,
Victor writes favorable reports to
the King.
SPRING WEEKEND:
Crowds
They return in triumph with
La Salle to Versailles. The story
closes with La Salle at the height
of his career, high in the favor of
the King, preparing to set out to
found a colony at the mouth of
the Mississippi. The twins, who
have found love and a better
way of life in Canada, are eager
to return.
The Gilded Torch is an excel-
lent novel. Teeming with inter-
esting characters and replete with
exciting incidents, the 'story holds
the attention of the reader.
The author has skillfully painted
the contrasting backgrounds of
Versailles and the wilderness of
the New World, and her charac-
ters are real persons. Those known
to history, Louis XIV, Madame de
Montespan, Colbert, La Salle, and
Father Hennepin, to name a few,
live in the pages of the book.
Her creations, especially Vic-
tor and, Marc, become like close
acquaintances. Throughout, the
story has a depth of understand-
ing and a warrth of human feel-
ing. It should become as popular
as the author's earlier novels.
Find
Excitement
I
DAILY PHOTO
FEATURE
by
JOHN H IRTZEL
IL
i
ICI
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A SPETACULAR JUBILEE
OF SONG AND DANCE
Gala Opening Monday at 8:30 P.M.
.: The 1957 Drama Season presents
CAROL BRUCE
in
"LADY IN THE DARK"
A Musical Comedy by Moss Hart
Music by Kurt Weill
(composer of "The Threepenny Opera"
Lyrics by Ira Gershwin
also starring
J SCOTT McKAY
with LEE BERGERE
Carol Bruce and a professional company of 30
LADY IN THE DARK is little short of miraculous
the wittiest, most beguiling score Kurt Weill
has written."
-John Mason Brown
"The American stage may well take a bow . .
LADY IN THE DARK uses the resources of the
theatre magnificently . . . it will create wonderful
memories for everyone who sees it."
-Brooks Atkinson
"There are the dreams come true in this LADY IN
THE DARK.. . Moss Hart's book must be counted
on inspiration."
--Burns Mantle
Scott McKay
Ticket Prices for "Lady In The Dark"
Evenings thru Thursday: Orchestra-$4.25, $3.75; Balcony-$4.25, $3.75, $3.00
Friday and Saturday: Orchestra-$4.75, $4.25; Balcony-$4.75, $4.25, $3.50
Matinees Thurs. and Sat.: Orchestra-$3.50, $3.00; Balcony-$3.50, $3.00
w
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SHADES OF CHAS..ADAMS-Trigon-Henderson entry is winning
float in Cartoonival parade. Thirty-one housing groups competed
float in Cartoonival parade. Thirty-one housing groups competed.
SECCO-Sigma Delta Tau and Sigma Phi Epsilon place second
in Skit Night. Delta Delta Delta and Delta Tau Delta earned first
place honors.
*
4
WCBN--Campus radio network conducts 36-hour marathon. Located in a tent on the library steps, JAZZ JAMBOREE-John Kirkendall entertains crowd on Diag.
they received telephone and personal requests from audience. Other acts were the Four Scores and Trumpet Trio.
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