Word: existentialist
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...David Cronenberg, director of such films as Scanners (1981), Dead Ringers (1988) and A History of Violence (2005), has been called the "King of Venereal Horror" and the "Baron of Blood." But more and more, he's being recognized as something else: a thinking man's filmmaker. A diehard existentialist, Cronenberg has infused philosophy into his films over the years; some critics even called his 1986 blockbuster The Fly an inspired allegory for the AIDS epidemic. And if anyone still doubted his high-culture credibility, now Cronenberg is tackling the medium of Mozart...
...with Lee is Behind My Eyes, the echo of previous work is not necessarily a problem, of course. In fact, first-timers will find the collection a beauty. Lee is capable of dystopian quips ("The garden was ruined long before/ we came to make a world of it") and existentialist shrugs ("Every player eventually dies") - but it's the lack of bitterness that makes his best pieces so moving. In "Living with Her" - reminiscent of Matthew Arnold's classic "Dover Beach" - Lee's wife urges him to come away from the window and simply lie down. Ignorant armies still clash...
...Baxter’s strident authorial voice is present throughout “The Soul Thief.” He frequently calls our assumptions of modern life into question by inserting quotations from Gertrude Stein, references to Hitchcock’s “Psycho,” and existentialist sound-bites into the narrative. However, Baxter’s selection of somewhat inaccessible sources interferes with the ability of a lay reader to understand the significance of these allusions. In other passages, Baxter’s authorial voice antagonizes the reader, directly criticizing him for not catching onto...
...could laugh about a nude picture. By the standards of her bourgeois upbringing, Beauvoir did live an unorthodox life. She earned a living with her mind, having aced France’s most hallowed philosophy exam to come second only to Jean-Paul Sartre, with whom she founded the existentialist school of thought. The two became an odd and inseparable pair, loving each other with an explicit allowance for outside dalliances. Under that agreement, she fell passionately in love, twice, and had a lifelong affair with crying and alcohol. A haphazard dresser and global traveler, Beauvoir also had no reservations...
David Michaelis presents a thorough, endearing, but somewhat glossy story in “Schulz and Peanuts: A Biography.” Because the “Peanuts” comics hold such a dear place in the hearts of readers and such a central place in the existentialist popular culture of Eisenhower’s America, Michaelis runs the risk of exposing too much about the creator and his underlying insecurities, fears, and shortcomings. People, after all, are usually not interested in seeing the puppeteer’s face when they watch a puppet show. Unfortunately, though Michaelis does...