Word: runic
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...formidably intelligent critic Susan Sontag. Ergo, a long story that looks like a historical romance, a celebration of a 19th century woman who, in contemporary parlance, had it all--devoted husband (a Polish count, no less), passionate younger lover and glittering career--must be hedged about with postmodern ironies, runic clues to the reader not to mistake surface for substance. Mustn...
...mysterious writer of his generation. While his cult exfoliated, the author mostly remained silent; Slow Learner, a collection of five previously published stories, appeared in 1984. Now, at last, comes Vineland, Pynchon's first novel in nearly 17 years, and the faithful can again begin the quest for runic meanings, preferably hidden. And right up at the top of the second page of text, something interesting glimmers: "Desmond was out on the porch, hanging around his dish, which was always empty because of the blue jays who came screaming down out of the redwoods and carried off the food...
Pusshkin's tale involves a Russian poet, Charsky, who befriends an Italian improvisatore. The Italian tells yet another story, "Cleopatra and Her Lovers," in which Cleopatra agrees to take as a lover for one night my man who is willing to die the next morning. The runic twist at the end of the Cleopatra story is the essence of Thomas central theme--the link between creativity, consciousness and death. "Sex, of course," Thomas once wrote, "includes all creativity, and death includes its own vanquishing...
...have been brought to the site from a Viking settlement in Newfoundland, not by Norsemen but by seagoing Indians. After all, he noted, no other Norse materials have been discovered around Blue Hill. Still, the museum is taking no chances. To stave off a possible stampede of runic treasure hunters who might indeed turn Blue Hill into a facsimile of Trillin's Berryville, Maine officials want the area around the Indian mound placed under federal protection...
...knows how to populate a stage singlehanded. At the same time, she releases the audience's imaginative powers. What animates her performance is that she so obviously loves her people deep down in her bones. Delivering a ritual lament in Gaelic, she creates an atmosphere of runic awe; her body becomes a crucible of Irish antiquity and suffering...