Word: conceits
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...deeper reason for the steady decline of idyls, though, may be that travelers love to report that paradise is lost. If it is the first secret conceit of every voyager to imagine that he alone has found the world's last paradise, it is the second to believe that the door has slammed shut right behind him. A paradise is by its nature a fine and private place, a deserted island or a solitary glade; Adam and Eve would have seemed considerably less charmed had they been surrounded by squawking kids, knickknack vendors and a row of time-share condos...
...conceit of Wildcats is much simpler and clean lined, dramatically speaking. Molly McGrath (Goldie Hawn) is the daughter of a football coach who has always wanted to follow in her father's footsteps. Sexism being what it is, the only shot she has is at an inner-city high school whose team has the juvenile authorities beaten by no more than half a step. Can she weld them into a fighting unit? Can their victories create a new school spirit at Central? Can she at the same time provide a role model for struggling feminists everywhere...
...other aspect of Davies' novel falls flat. In The Rebel Angels Davies populates the novel with the unseen but mysterious forces of medieval angels. But in What's Bred in the Bone Davies brings them to life. The Daimon Maimas and the Recording Angel narrate the novel. This little conceit provides the structural premise of the book, and it wilts fast...
...explain. His conceit is to posit that Maimas and the Recording Angel have guided Cornish through his life in an effort to make him great. So when Cornish's nephew calls upon them in jest, they appear (not to the nephew of course, only to the reader) to tell the tale. Why does Davies do this? Well, it's kind of clever and amusing at first. And the use of these two characters could be forgiven if they weren't used in such an amateurish way. Throughout the novel they interrupt every once in a while to explain the most...
...than imposing way. So it's a shame to see this talent wane in this novel. For in his other novels the magic of the devils and angels lives in the characters who understand and discuss their own magic. In separating the daimon and angel from Cornish through this conceit, he takes away the magic from Cornish and the humanity of the angels...