Dallas Voice (Dallas, Tex.), Vol. 6, No. 40, Ed. 1 Friday, February 2, 1990 Page: 21 of 28
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those writers, King roams freely about Ameri-
can culture. She’s usually on the attack in
ways that are epigramatically if not politically
correct: “The only things we discriminate
against are smokers and bad hugs.” “The
women’s novel has turned into the Amtrak of
American literature.” “I’d rather be a human
mine sweeper in the Strait of Hormuz than
read John Updike.”
To King, too many Americans suffer from
“Nice Guyism” (another essay). She attacks
the modem state of politics ("Democrazy"),
cultural literacy (“A Bloom & Hirsch Girl”),
business writing (“Land of Hopefully and
Glory”) and the self-imposed plight of
American women (“Spinsterhood is .Power-
ful”) and men (“From Captain Marvel to
Cantain Valium”).
At her best, King fuses memoir, ironic
social observtion and a brilliant prose style, as
in her discussion of Rooseveltian “royalty”:
“Depression-era Americans sounded like
gouty squires poring over a stud book as they
discussed the lineage of the various Sistys and
Buzzys who swarmed through the decade of
the Common Man.” On the whole, Reflect-
ions in aJaundiced Eye is an excellent book,
and King is a national treasure.
A nother source of good reading is a
XTL collection of essays with the provocative
title Against foie de Vivre, by New Yorker-
turned-Houstonian Philip Lopate. Unlike
King, Lopate isn’t playing for laughs. Like her,
though, he knows howto attack an issue, take
Lopate isn’t gay, but many
of his concerns are those
of single urbanites
everywhere.’
an individualistic stand, and make it play
through logic and compelling prose. In the
title essay, he holds: “For the Greeks, a Zorba
dance to life has supplanted classical anti
quities as their main touristic lure. Hard to
imagine anything a stomach turning as being
forced to participate in such an oppressively
robust, folknik effusion. Fortunately, the
country has its share of thin, nervous, bitter
types, but Greeks do exist who would clutch
you to their joyfully stout bellies and crush
you there."
Lopate isn’t gay, but many of his concerns
are those of single urbanites everywhere. A
sampling of his shorter essays indicates this:
“Modem Friendships,” “A Nonsmoker with a
Smoker,” “Upstairs Neighbors,” “Art of the
Creep.” Lopate also writes movingly of his
friendship with a gay man, Carlos Clarens.
(The text was reprinted from his eulogy at
Clarens’ funeral.)
But Lopate’s real strength lies in his longer
essays. In “Chekov for Children,” for ex
ample, he manages the nearly impossible task
of sustaining reader interest through 45 pages
of the account of a grade-school production
of Uncle Vanya. Lopate himself led the
production and balances nicely his personal
concerns with his observations of the child
ren involved in the play. This is the sort of
viewpoint we just don’t get in neutral, “ob-
jective” journalism. There should me more
writing of this caliber.
©1989, Allen Smalling. Mr. Smailing is a
freelance writer and reviewer based in
Chicago. He is a frequent contributor to the
Dallas Voice.
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THE DALLAS VOICE/FEIRUAAY l. 1990
21
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Vercher, Dennis. Dallas Voice (Dallas, Tex.), Vol. 6, No. 40, Ed. 1 Friday, February 2, 1990, newspaper, February 2, 1990; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth615709/m1/21/?rotate=180: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.