122 E. Washington St. Herb Gardner: A Failure To Write Creatively i Sam's Store Brings you WINTER BARGAINS for "Cold-Cash" Men's Wear All wool, gabardine and flannel pants $895 Asst'd Colors, Free Cuff Alterations Flop Pocket, Wash & Wear Polished Cotton Pants $395 corduroy . . . $4.50 rayon and acetate ... $4.50 Year 'round wearability Assorted Colors SPORT SHIRTS long sleeves $199/ or 2 for $3.50 Broadcloth, worm cotton flannels Leather Dress Gloves fleece lined $2.69 furlined $3.99 Asst'd colors All wool leather face $1.99 ALL WOOL SPORTS COATS $1795 Latest styles Quality tailoring Warm B-9 Mouton Hooded Jackets $1795 Wool quilted lined Asst'd Colors Sam's 5Store 122 E. Washington St. I A PIECE OF THE ACTION. By herb Gardner. Simon and Schuster. New York. 313 pages. $3.95. "A PIECE of the Action," Herb Gardner's first novel, is a "novel of experience" as distinct from the "novel of invention," and one in which the author has not fulfilled his obligation to write creatively, The "novel of experience" is built with the materials of the author's own life, the life of a contemporary, or the popular knowledge of a public figure. The facts are not altered, although an author is free to interpolate purely imagined events. What comes from this depend- ence on true experience is a core Sell Al Books fo a WAI of common experience, and it Is day - to - day happenings, but in exposure to the business world this repetition of first love and terms of what areas of interest almost costs him his integrity. war and the quest for success that his protagonist comes to first, be It is not that the events of his imposes an artistic obligation on it family or boys or girls, book seem to come from Gardner's the author's right to express him- A new book, "Your Turn To own life that is unfortunate. It is self. Curtsy, My Turn To Bow," shows that his reluctance to take a This is in contrast with the how William Goldman can take chance with his materials com- "novel of invention," where the a common experience, young love, pels considering his book only as subject - matter introduces so and recount that experience as if colorful exposition. unique an experience that there it were an utterly new thing. are no concomitant demands on He brings this about with his GARDNER'S faults go beyond the narrative technique which narrative technique; the adult the refusal to seek out a mean- must be the strength of an ex- narrator can stand well away from ingful method of narration. periential story, the summer and the summer's love, Even in what he does do, he able both to ttll his story and to is lax. He succumbs, several times, HOW THE STORY is told is part address himself to the reader, in to what can be called "the toilet- 1' of the value there. Compare a way that makes the experiences seat corollary." Teachers of writ- William Goldman's "The Temple set down more meaningful, a ing condemn the practice of allow- of Gold" with any of Jack Kerou- method that suggests the writings ing a character to indulge in ac's three "first" novels. of Henry Fielding. mental soliloquies while fighting Goldman orders the experience or running to catch a bus or put- of growing up, not as a record of KEEGUAC'S "The Town and the ting the cat out; rather that the ___City," published nearly eight character thinks about things at years ago, has nothing to organize a time of reposes, in bathtubs and it except the succession of events elsewhere. that comprise a boy's passing to Lou Gracie's first love is the I Y our the age of manhood. sub-plot in this novel; and the The book is further hampered author gives us the details of what by the author's borrowed articula- has proceeded before the start of r C A SH ! tion, in that he writes sporadically the novel, with the protagonist like Thomas Wolfe. His books are sitting alone in a restaurant, while a naked attempt to set down per- he contrives an otherwise unneces- sonal experience, and it is his sary ride in a taxicab to facilitate intent that demands creative writ- another time of reflection. ing to lift his work above the Gardner includes'several good/ H R 'S ordinary. bad dialogues, usually drunken, A superb example of creative conducted inside Lou's head. The writing, where the narrative tech- technique simplifies the presenta- nique transforms the common ex- tion of material that would be perience into a work of art, is better worked out through the Wright Morris' "The Huge Sea- protagonist's interaction with the son." other characters. The main parts of the story are separated by a thirty-year inter- GARDNER'S few attempts to val; a group of people who met in order his book misfire because the Twenties must live through a they also are too easily done. crisis, later, precipitated by their These are where he sets up er- ties to one another. tain crisises by establishing prece- trim Their initial relationships are dents for them earlier in the novel, portrayed in sections of an un- as when he stresses the integrity finished novel by one of the pro- of a character whose betrayal is tagonists, and sections of this pivotal to the action and how he novel are introduced at various underlines the self -consciousness atimes in the narrative. That the that forces Lou to botch a rela- man Foley has been unable to tionship with one of three women finish his novel is also a factor in in the book. D a the story itself. Likewise, the ending loses force d e o air Although "The Huge Season" is because the crisis takes place in not a first novel, it is a successful the protagonist's head, raising the example of what is meant by an question of why the resolution had tailored author's obligation to write crea- to happen then and there. tively when his materials are not It would be wrong just to pay born in the imagination, lip-service to Herb Gardner's very formidable abilities. A few of the NoW IS THE TIME to show how scenes that show him off best in- what has been said applies to elude: the whole relationship be- "A Piece of the Action," the book tween Lou and his uncle Vic, but actually being reviewed here. mainly the scene in the new car; Gardner fails in his book mainly Lou's drunken encounter with the because he takes no creative little girl, some of Lou's love for chances; he just lets things hap- Nina, and the young-old impu- pen, dence that Lou shows during the This is, first of all, a search- cocktail-hour contract hassle. for-success story. "A Piece of the Talent is there, but it needs Action" is the story of a young de- more discipline than that which signer who invents a similar char- comes with the impulse to try one's acter called The Slob; the book hand at writing a novel. tells how Lou Gracie's premature -Burton Beerman >3 -J{ ESTINGHOUSE presents * Self-Service Laundry in one hour Wash, fluff dry, and SAVE * Drop-off Service-Same Day * 48-hour SHIRT SERVICE * Same-day Dry Cleaning on Request SAVE 25% on Budget Plan HOURS: 7:30 A.M. to 9 P.M. 510 EAST WILLIAMS r SIZES 7 to 12 WIDTHS B to D For the man of good taste ..Winthrop styled these sleek new Tailored Fronts.. very neat...very "today" I CAMPUS AST'S SHOP 619 East Liberty NO 2-0266 III IIIl All j I4: Page Fourteen THE MICHIGAN DAILY MAGAZINE--+wr- --l- ..- -..- -.-- ..--., Page Fourteen THE MICHIGAN DAILY MAGAZINE