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then speaks. | then speaks. | ||
(First soldier looks old enough | (First soldier looks old enough | ||
to have children. Second soldier | |||
can be younger.) | |||
2nd Soldier: "Who you writing to?" | |||
1st Soldier: "Judy and the kids. Watcha reading?" | |||
2nd Soldier: "New novel by Norman Mailer, the guy that wrote | |||
''The Naked and the Dead''. You read that?" | |||
1st Soldier: "I read it twice. Good book. Old Mailer knew the | |||
the army all right. This new thing any good?" | |||
2nd Soldier: "I don't know for sure. I'm about halfway through | |||
it, and I can't figure out what he's trying to say | |||
1st Soldier: "What's he call it? Is it as rugged as ''The Naked and the Dead''?" | |||
2nd Solder holds book up | |||
so first soldier can see 2nd Soldier: "Dad you know it. It's called ''An American Dream'', | |||
cover and camera can show it. and it's pretty wild in spots. My girl friend sent | |||
it to me, and I don't know if she read it, but | |||
there's some parts I'd just as soon she skip." | |||
1st Soldier: "Let's see it a minute." | |||
Second Soldier Tosses "What does the dust jacket say?" | |||
book to first. (1st Soldier Quotes From Jacket Blurb) | |||
(As second soldier listens, "The hero of ''An American Dream'' is Stephen | |||
he can nod agreement now Richards Rojack, a war hero, college | |||
and then.) professor, television performer and the | |||
husband of an immensely wealthy girl." | |||
''An American Dream'' Page 2 | |||
2nd Soldier: "You read that very well." | |||
(1st Soldier continues after shrugging off comment) | |||
"The time of the novel is 32 hours. In those | |||
32 hours Rojack journeys through every imaginable | |||
evil, and some all but unimaginable pleasures-- | |||
an existential pilgrimage of great peril, of | |||
profound suspense." | |||
(2nd Soldier, Interrupting Again:) | |||
"I don't know about that suspense jazz." | |||
1st Soldier: (Continues) | |||
"The milieu of ''An American Dream'' is New York City -- | |||
the night-time of plush East Side duplex apartments. | |||
2nd Soldier: "I'd rather be there than here." | |||
1st Soldier: (Continues) | |||
"of police precinct stations, of after-hours clubs, | |||
of Lower East Side tenements... Onto this | |||
environment Mailer impresses his singular imagination | |||
creating a classic world of action and horror that | |||
takes on the dimensions of an American myth." | |||
"This doesn't sound so confusing. What do you mean, | |||
you don't know what it's about?" | |||
2nd Soldier: "What I mean, old buddy, is I know what Mailer wrote. | |||
I just don't know what he's trying to get at." | |||
1st Soldier: "Well, should I read it or not?" | |||
Page 3 | |||
''An American Dream'' | |||
2nd Soldier: "Lemme put it this way, Dad. I wouldn't recommend | |||
it for my mother 'cause she'd give me you-know- | |||
what for reading a dirty book. You remember that | |||
part of the jacket you read where it said the | |||
hero is a television performer? Well, he's even | |||
more of a bedroom performer, so I guess that lets | |||
out anybody who gets shocked easy. When you come | |||
right down to it, I'd say I'm about the only | |||
person I know who's worldly enough to read it | |||
without getting all shook up." | |||
1st Soldier: "Well, I'm older than you, and I'm twice as | |||
worldly. Just you let me read it, and I'll tell | |||
''you'' what it's all about. OK?" | |||
2nd Soldier: "Good Luck, Frank Buck." | |||
'' # # # # # # # # # #'' | |||
Review written by Donald M. Boucher |
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