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I c. rouiuaiy ij, i aot, uamuiuuK P nn+rno+n o \r uuiiuaoio ai From Staff Reports Contrasts highlight the 1984 Spring Wr novelists, poets and a radio personality sche "This year's group of writers presents trasts," said George Geckle, chairman of U! of English and coordinator of the annual se "Each of them examines the human c< singularly individual point of view, whether i feminist orientation, (Joseph) Brodsky's vis conflict with tyranny, or (Robert) Fitzj perspective spanning literature from the Greeks to James Agee," Geckle said. ALL OF the 8 p.m. Writers Series readings will be free and open to the public, and each will be followed by a ^ reception in the third floor lobby of Gambrell Hall. Jong, author of the controversial 1970s best seller, "Fear of Flying," begins the series March 7. Her reading at the Close-Hipp Building's Belk Auditorium will include excerpts from "Fear of Flying," and from her 1981 work "Witches," a study in prose and poetry of the mythical figure of the witch. Jong's works have been translated into more than 20 languages. National Book Award winner Tim O'Brien will appear next. His first novel, "Going After Cacciato," won the award in 1978. The novel was one of the earlier fictional treatments of Vietnam and received a front page book review in The New York Times Book Review section. The review praised the novel's style. O'BRIEN IS also known for his short stories that have appeared in such magazines as Esquire, The Atlantic, Playboy, and Saturday Review. His stories also have been anthologized in "The O'Henry Prize d n. *1 * ^ stories. mis new novel, "The ^ Nuclear Age," is scheduled for publication later this year. O'Brien's reading will be in Belk Auditorium March 22. O'Brien will be followed by Robert S. Fitzgerald, the only man to have translated all cient epics: "The Iliad," "The Odysse Aeneid." He has also been praised for his Sophocles' dramas. Fitzgerald's translation of "The Odyssey" the first Bollingen Prize for translation of poei The work was hailed by critics as a "great achi "masterpiece." FITZGERALD SUCCEEDED Archibalc Boylston Professor of Rhetoric and Orate Sheldon captivs By Margarita Pate Sidney Sheldon's novel, "Master of the Game," is a splendid, intriguing tale, laden \l/l t Y\ nAU/ar ' ?11 in punbi, uaiiwu, naiuMiam miu aiiconsuming greed. This newest member of the made-for-television cast, sweeps the reader up in a whirlwind of utopic fiction. Kate Blackwell, the matriarch of the Blackwell family, and head of an international conglomerate, is Sheldon's most multifaceted heroine yet. Her saga unfolds over a 100-year period beginning in the diamond fields of South Africa and traversing through Paris, England, North America and most of the boardrooms and bedrooms along the way before reaching its conclusion. Sheldon's first novel,"The Naked Face',' is wonderfully enthralling. It grabs you right at the start and never lets go. It is the kind of book you can't put down. SHELDON HAS yet to break stride as he repeatedly demonstrates his superiority as today's master storyteller. His novels are remarkably orecise and clear. Thev are full of passion and intrigue. One becomes so intimately enmeshed in the power of his storytelling that the characters and their plight become acutely lifelike. His first novel was nominated for an Edgar and was declared the "best first mystery novd of the year," by The New York Times. Perhaps his most successful and wellknown rfovel is his second, "The Other Side of Midnight." This is a marvelously captivating novel about greed and retribution. Tt is full of hungry sex. The woman scorned F,n ferta )ound in 1984 iters Series with iMF duled to appear. tJUr wonderful con- p 'jgfg SC's Department sndition from lion of a noet in 4HI Wp^ g three major any," and "The 40 - jC|pP ^ in 1961 received try into English. ^ta| pvpnipnt" onrl o uHffil V T VIIIVUI UUU U i MacLeish as V >ry at Harvard ^ ites audiences KVV-i7.fv ' Sidney Sheldon * !- - -A- ' " amenua s masier sioryieiier. embarks on a journey to conquer as many men as possible with her carnal prowess. This novel was made into a movie that almost broke tradition by being as good as the book. It starred a beautiful French actress who regrettably has not been seen on American television or movie screens since. The movie for television was remarkably similar to the book. The ending is flabbergasting. It is Sheldon's finesse with endings that sets him apart from all the rest. A STEAMY Hollywood tale, "A Stranger in the Mirror," is Sheldon's next compulsivelyTeadable piece of fiction. The See "Sheldon," page 15 ittrrienT Spring Writ r > University. and the Ne and translal appear in r< Wobegon, jT 1S8?' Thompson ; Partici M| Kinnell, Themes of my productions of By John Vaughan Mysteries ? both the fairly new and th tried-and-true ? open tomorrow night oi the stages of two local theaters with first hand experience in uncertainty. In the last couple of years, folks at th Chapin Community Theatre and West Col umbia's Act I Theatre have gotten used t< P\/AKrA\i/r ,1 ^.. 1~* ~ ? 1 iMiavv* vjvuiutto auu lllUIUUiCU UUUUIS dUUU their potential for survival. But it hasn't stopped either group yet, an< tomorrow Chapin produces South Caroli nian Kenn Robbins' "Dallas File" while Ac I presents Briton Agatha Christie's "Witnes for the Prosecution." FOR CHAPIN, the show marks a big ste] forward in production experience an< publicity. Robbins, chairman of Newberry College' Department of Theatre and Speech, is one o only a handful of published playwrights ii the Palmetto State ? and Chapin is takin; on the first in-state staging of one of hi works. That fact has brought the active littl theater, which only this season began seekinj critical review of its presentations, a definit boost in visibility. "The most exciting thing to me is tha we're part of the creative process o theater." said director Ma rv SllP Pnnlp "W aren't reproducing a Broadway hit ? we'r giving theater audiences an opportunity to b part of something new." CHAPIN, ABOUT a 25-minute driv. ers Series In his early years, he was a journalist with Time w York Herald Tribune before turning to poetry tion of classic Greek literature. He is scheduled to 3om 153 of Gambrell Hall March 28. Keillor has become a cult figure to thousands of tionwide through his National Public Radio proPrairie Home Companion." sntures of his friends and neighbors in Lake Minn., are interspersed with jazz by the Butch Trio, country music and opera. His literary credits include a recent l 1. (di i -t-'I y j i uuok, nappy 10 oe i nere, anu numerous stories in The New Yorker magazine. Keillor will appear in Belk ^ Auditorium April 3. S ONCE SENTENCED to five years hard labor on a Soviet state farm, P? twice imprisoned in Soviet "mental r institutions," the dissident poet Joseph Brodsky attracted so much world attention he was ordered to leave the Soviet Union. He has been hailed by Nobel laureate Czeslaw Milosz (who appeared at USC in 1982) as a major poet. Brodsky, who now lives and teaches in New York, will appear in Belk Auditorium April 11. Galway Kinnell, who in 1983 won both the American Book Award and the Putlizer Prize for poetry, will speak in Currell College room 107 April 19. Galway became a civil rights worker in Louisiana in the 1960s, took part in protests against the Vietnam War in the 1970s and in 1982 organized a protest against nuclear arms called "Poetry Against the End of the World." Diane Wakoski has been poet-inresidence at several colleges, including the California Institute of ? f i - : ^ i cv-mnjiugy, uic umivcisiiy ui *V Virginia, the University of Hawaii ' and Emory University. Currently, she teaches at Michigan State University. 1 pants in the Series /vise from top, Diane Wakoski, Joseph Bradsky, Galway Tim O'Brien, Erica Jong and Robert Fitzgerald. J j stery highlight local theaters from Columbia, has developed a small-bute growing following among USC students durn ing the past few years. Theater officials chose "Dallas File" because they felt tackling an original would e contribute to the goal of making Chapin a competitive alternative to other established 3 local theaters. t "Dallas File" concerns a young college student who inherits material stolen from the i Dallas police files after the assassination of President John Kennedy ? a topic director t Poole said is timely because of the recent s 20th anniversary of the Kennedy slaying. The show runs through Saturday, with performances at 8 p.m. For ticket informap tion, call the box office at 345-2244. i DESPITE A recent auto accident that ins jured director Jim Quick and postponed f* i i K A *' * pivovimus lviitss /vppeai until later this i year, Act I has forged ahead with its latest g show. s Directed by Quick, "Witness for the Prosecution" brings the audience into the coure troom for the trial of Leonard Vole, accused g of killina an older wealth \J u/Aman ^? * w nvuiuii iu gcim m.i e estate. Larry Webster portrays Vole, with Doug t Williams and Sheryl Wood in other major f roles. Director Quick plans an innovation by e involving some theatergoers as members of e the jury. e The show runs through Feb. 25, with performances at 8 p.m. except for a 3 p.m. Sunday matinee. For ticket information, call the e box office at 796-7550.