Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 21, 1986)
Cracked Lyricism Manuel Puig, the Argentine author best known for "Kiss of the Spider Woman,” writes novels that con t rast the cramped lives people lead wit h the ext ravagant worlds they fantasize. A bitter romantic, he’s a fan of classic Hollywood schlock, and his theme is the att raction and impossibility of romance. He can't get ideal loveoutofhis head,and he can’t forget that it doesn’t really exist. When he recounts a character’s movie-fed memory or dream, his words seem to issue from an ecstatic trance. He takes off from kitsch into something almost visionary, and makes us understand the lure of Dream Factory illu sions. When Puig is at his peak—in "Kiss,” "Betrayed by Rita Hayworth” and "Heart break Tango,” and in sections of his newly translated Publ* Angelical (250 paxes. Vin tage. Paper $6.95>—his cracked, intense lyricism is in a class with that of F. Scott Fitzgerald and Tennessee Williams. Pubis Angelical is like a jangled par ody of a Hollywood weepie. A young woman being treated for a tumor awaits her doc tor’s verdict and contends with a lover who wants her to participate in a kidnapping scheme. Sedated against pain, she slips into comalike states. The narrative alternates between her lucid periods and two ongoing reveries—one starring Hedy Lamarr, the other a sex surrogate. Puig tells the "real" story in a bare-bones style and recounts the hallucinations—in which his heroine’s deepest feelings play themselves out on a grand scale—in breathless, purple prose. The lush, piled-on sentences seem to change shape and take on their own life, like dream images: he describes "columns which widened little by little as they rose, suddenly to be transformed into the folds of the golden fabric wrapped around hips that continued into torsos of smiling women of gold, which, with extravagant humor, held up a golden ceiling with their coiffures of infinite curls.” The novel has more intellectual machin ery than it can support, and the framing sto is dramatically immobile. But some oft' ■■ episodes that take place in the hero in. head can affect you as directly as mu sii And Puig’s whipped-cream prose in th* passages has an absurd, touching ovt peness that may remind you of the in s of gaudy movie palaces. Puig can m the pull of the ideal so hard to resist th ■ e gets you wondering if the cliches of old lollywood might really be the lan gu of pure feeling. Kav Sawhill MBA+ Plus paid professional work experience while pursuing your graduate business degree. Northeastern is one of America’s most experienced leaders in cooperative education. I ■ The Cooperative Education MBA Program begins in June or January ■ Application deadlines are May 1 and November 15 I For complete information return our coupon or call (017) 437 27U Northeastern University is an equal opportunity/aftirmativc action employer The College ot Business Administration i> accredited bv the American Assembly ot t lollcgiatc Schools ot Business Cooperative Education MBA Program GRADUATE SCH(X>L OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION Hayden Hall. Northeastern University W) Huntington Ave Boston. MA021D Please send complete intormation to Northeastern University Boston, Massachusetts J TheWAHL ftM/e, fctvict Get the look! You v© seen the look Now you can gel It with the new Stubble Device by Wahl, a cordless shaving system that includes two trimming guides to let you maintain consistent stubble length from a subtle one-day shadow to a heavier five-day growth The Wahl Stubble Device Includes stubble shaver, two trimming guide attachments, pre-shave i brush, storage stand, 3 AA batteries, comb, blade oil ond detailed instructions Want the look? Get It wtth The Wahl Stubble Device! WAHL WAMl Cum* COGPOBAFlO STIttING ILLINOIS 61061 Available at these tine stores Sears Roebuck & Co Walgreens - Select Stores Cutlery World lechmere Osco Drug — Select Stores fedco Bloommgdait* s Castn* Knott Bo*cov s fo*te< A Monahan Jotlm * Beyond Marco Drug The fair Ape* Clover Store* Harts tftilNU ■Ki
