Word: idealizes
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1970-1979
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...into prison, officially for complicity in the Helot rebellion but actually because he represents a different, more serious threat to Lykourgos's rule. A leering, over-weight, foul-minded old mystic, constantly eating onions, farting, and peeking in windows to watch elderly couples making love. Agathon scorns the Spartan ideal and gleefully embodies its antithesis. The novel deals with how he got this way and how he views himself, the people he knows, the universe he inhabits. Gardner adroitly uses the device of alternating two manuscripts: Agathon's disjointed writings in jail, and those of his cellmate and disciple Demodokos...
Significantly, this opposition is no longer centered primarily in the countryside, but has surfaced in the urban areas as well. In fact, Saigon- long an ideal vantage point for "observing" the War from afar- is now the scene of an intensive political struggle. Workers, women, veterans, respectable politicians, religious leaders (including Roman Catholics, formerly among the most anti-Communist, enthusiastic supporters of the War), and of course students, have all taken a public stand in favor of hoa binh - peace. Moreover, for the first time, they have linked this peace with demands for: 1) withdrawal of "foreign" (i.e., American) troops...
...bolts things-not the issues but the lack of sufficient research on them. I know as well as anyone that the people who emerge as candidates for President aren't necessarily the best people to be President. Candidates emerge out of the political process. None of us is ideal. But when you combine success in the political process with ambition, you get your candidate. Maybe there are men -or women-outside the political process who could do better...
Clark argues that excessively harsh anticrime tactics are doomed to long-term failure in the U.S. Though they often pay it mere lip service, Clark admits, Americans still cherish the ideal of equal justice for all citizens. Thev seem unlikely to accept the kind of force that would stamp out all crime-and freedom as well. Such force, he adds, can only incite more anger and violence...
...receive wide distribution here, and its popularity was for all the wrong, reactionary reasons. (Fragile and Iyrical," the critics said.) The film's nihilistic undercurrents are easy (and desirable) to repress, and all the rest is saccharine and tragic, incredibly cathartic, and sets up pure escapism as an ideal. Widerberg, however, in fact emerged in Sweden of the early '60's as a leader of young directors agitating against escapist cinema, for much needed social analysis, and was one of the first to attack the metaphysical hokeyness of Ingmar Bergman. He criticized Bergman's social aloofness and practice of "vertical...