The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, February 15, 1984, Page 12, Image 12
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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
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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
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)ound in 1984
iters Series with iMF
duled to appear. tJUr
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sndition from
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three major any,"
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in 1961 received
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ites audiences
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Sidney Sheldon
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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
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and the Ne
and translal
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Wobegon,
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; 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<
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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
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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
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*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.