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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (March 9, 1979)
PS9 12 dally nebraskan frlday, march 9,1979 Mexic By Bill Itcgler fYoii suffer from the sickness of a lost Paradise,' says unhappy Felix, herd of The Hydra Head (Farrar, Straus, Giro ux). This latest novel by Carlos Fuentes' Is set in the fallen World of secrets and spies. tfCUHGD Secret agents in The Hydra Head shuttle between Houston, oil ambillcus, and Mexl co City, the most populous city in the world. Both metropolises may now: rival Hong Kong, London, Paris, Singapore, Berlin, New York, and Alexandria as scenes of international power play. Felix is a Jewish convert, or claims to be. He infiltrated Israeli intelligence by marrying Ruth, a Jew. His deepest love may be Mexico. More likely it is Sara, also Jewish, but her chosen people are Palestine ians. Arabs and Israelis move Palestinians like pawns all over the world, even Into Mexico. Behind them are the KGB and gringos, pulling strings. The leader of Mexican Intel Kgence-is "Timon of Athens," and heir to a petrochemical ? conglomerated "Timon" narrates The Hydra Hea, a knot of makes nested on "the famous Mexican oil reser ves." . V Timon" quotes Shakespeare for every occasion, admires Max Weber's sociology, adores Schubert's E-flat Trbt and kills his sister for the lake of his country and cor poration, - Few spy motifs are missing In this novel. One will find a secret doof, a femme fatale, an unknown assassin, paranoia, disguises, an indecipherable code, revenge, betrayal, and explicit sex. Lovers of Don Quixote will find an image of the Don thrown into a labyrinthine structure dear to Cervantes. National loyalty is necessarily suspect in spy novels. The Hydra Head ' is no except ion. Stopped on a Texas highway, Felix hears an Irish policeman say, "I-don't know what this country's coming to. Ain't no real Americans left." Fuentes' audience is or should be" the whole of North America. He warns Mexi can that their press is "the most easily controlled in the world," that they are too tardy, and that the Mexican political system is "baroque He tells Anglos that if U.S. Marines expect to occupy Mexican oil installations, they will have to occupy the entire country. One dialogue discusses Mexican an spy tells intrigue tale Artist transforms Nebraska fields into geometric shapes By Carla Engstrom David Dahl's small art studio at 1036 Q St. doesn't look very impressive. Aft work is arrayed on the Walls, drop of spilled paint decorate the floor, flypaper hangs from the ceiling and art supplies are stacked, in cluttered piles against one wall. Intense floodlights focus on two un finished Works hanging at the back of the room and another: uncompleted work lies on the floor next to a fan. The studio looks naked without an artist diligently working on the canvas. But the 28-year-old undergraduate abstract? artist can't be considered idleJ Dahl completed six large abstract paint- ings last semester which are on exhibit at the Nebraska East Union Loft. The exhibit is sponsored by the University Program Council-East Visual Arts Committee and runs through March 23. The towheaded artist putted on a cigar , and discussed his work over a cup of coffee at his studio. He occasionally petted his constant companion, Simon, a large sandy brown dog. "I take Simon everywhere hell be al lowed," Dahl said with a laugh. Acrylic medium The abstract artist's medium is acrylics. Dahl said he was painting with oil hut changed to acrylics because it Is less ex pensive than o dries faster and enables him to get more work done in a shorter amount of time. . - Dahl's abstract geometric shapes on the canvas come from his interest in Nebraska . landscape..,; T!' V., ' His "interest led him '-.to study such geometrical shapes in the Sand as plowed fields. ".-:,.':- . ' ' Dahl said he b not aiming toward any audience when he paints. ' '"My "paintings are for me first and if anyone wants them after that, that's Tine.. Dahl $aid the reasons people buy his art doesn't Interest him, but it will help give a ; financial , kickback for all the material I : buy,', '' - tt.:'"'" He estimates he spends $50 to $100 a month on supplies, but he'd be happy if he sold three to tour large paintings a year to breakeven. " The abstract artist said he's been more successful In selling smaller, pastel, graphite drawings for S150. -v . Months wixoat pay ' His lars paintings on exhibit run $600.. Hie prices of the paintings may seem high,' ties to OPEC a gririgo nightmare. But oil Is only half the stakes. The other half is Sara, whose murder Felix angrily avenges. For once, he thinks, he has done something for himself. An Arab agent soon thanks him for helping them in the process. Everything Felix does contributes to one side or another in this struggle of Intrigues. Passion, as usual, is the dupe of planning. Plots about secret intelligence ought to be intricate and thoughtful themselves. Fuentes plot could .serve as an example. Every scene, every dialogue counts. Jagged pieces tumble into a perfect fit, a jigsaw of moving pictures. Some of its pieces are the Haganah, the Irgun Zval Leuml, and Stem Gang, little known Zionist terrorist organizations. "Say Dachau, Trebllnka, and Belsen-Belsen' Sara tells Felix, "only if you add Moscob iya, Hamallah, and Saratand," Palestinian concentration camps. "No one escapes the stigma" of terror, not Israel, not the U.S., not Syria, Iraq, or Mexico. "The passport of modern history accepts only one visa, that of terror," Sara saysTWhether or not Fuentes agrees, terror makes a grim and believable passage through his novel. In several respects, it is the best of his novels. His other fine works, The Death of Artemlo CtU2 and Terra Nostra, are not superseded; they are the passions consum ed by The Hydra Head. Crui is even men tloned (page 236) and the idea of global possession studied in Terra Nostra is taken for granted, here. " The Hydra Head can frighten if read for its realism. Read for the thrill of spies, codes, and detection, it can be great fun. Read as a specimen of narrative art, it fore warns, "the Words of a novel always end saying the opposite of what they mean". It ends with an epilogue, a short history of Dona. Marina, first Mexican traitor. Top dance company to appear but, Dahl said, "It's important to remember that an artist will go several .months without selling a major work.'1 But the artist's objective is not to make money or sell art. "My main objective is to be a painter to try and develop my knowledge and abilities as much as I can " he said . Dahl said he could accomplish his goal : only through continual involvement with his work. He plans to graduate in May and get his . master s degree, which will enable him to . teach on the college level. Dahl also is trying to get connected with, larger galleries to put his art on display.' As he puffed on a cigar, Dahl said, people in the city who buy art, for the most part, are professional people who are interested in original art.' Art department studios Dahl said the studios on Q Street are owned by the UNL Art Department. "Faculty and graduatl students get studios and if space Is left over it's delega ted to undergraduates," he said. Dahl expressed desire to paint In a more representational style, more object oriented, in the future. But for the present, he said he wants to paint abstract art. Besides the exhibition, Dahl also has ' been busy with national competitive exhi bitions. He has had art . shown at the National Cap Coral Annual Art Exhibition No. 13 :at the Cape Coral Art Gallery in Fort Myers, Fli., where he won a second place award In 1979 Art competition. He has also participated . In national competition , at Potsdam ? Drawing at Potsdam, N.Y 1979; Marietta National at Marietta, Ohio, I979;20th National Sun Carnival Art Exhibition at B Paso Museum of Art, El Paso, Texas, 1978; and the Ari zona National Painting Competition at the, Scottsdale Center for. Arts at Scottsdale, ;Ari2.,1978. - L- " . , . ; Dahl has been in a regional competitive exhibition at the Omaha Spring Juried Art Competition, Omaha Civic Center, 1978; 40th Annual Fall Show, Sioux City Art Center, Sioux City, Iowa, 1978; Third Biennial Print, Drawing and' Painting Competition, College V of Saint Mary; Omaha, 1978; -Midwest Landscape Exhi bition, Elder Gallery; Nebraska' Wesleyan , University, Lincoln, 1979; and the39th Armual Fa3 Show, Sioux City Art Center, Sioux City, Ioua. - " - " - By Cheryl Klsling Kimball Hall will host one of the top three dance companies in .America, this weekend at 8 pm. The Joffrey II Dancers will perform a variety of dance forms Friday and Satur day. . . The group of six men and six women, with four alternatives in New York, range in age from 1 8 to 21 . They are directed by Sally Bliss with Maria Grandy as associate director. Bliss began working with the company 10 years ago when it was formed, she said. She was associate director at the time and has been artistic 4 director for four years. "The company does every kind of dance, but their foundation and training is in ballet," Bliss said. "They are a very , very versatile group." Bliss was bom in London, England, and raised in Nova Scotia but is how a U.S. citizen. She has studied with several differ ent dancers and performed all over the nation and Canada. She also founded The Portledge Ballet School In Locust Valley Long Island. Class and rehearsals The group has, been on tour since Jan. 10 and will continue until May 21. They work six days each week and spend the seventh day traveling. The group attends class each morning for about two hours and then rehearses the rest of the day. "When you are a dancer, you have to dance every day," Bliss said. "We usually go from 10 in the morning to six or seven at night." Every member of the group had to try out to be part of the company. Bliss and Robert Joitrey go over the country to find the best dancers to attend the American Ballet Center, they explained. From there, the dancers get into Joffrey II only if there is a place as an alternate dancer. Each one is expected to have studied ballet at least six years and some have studied 12 to 14 years. '. Exceptional These young people are absolutely professional. They are always training and each one Is exceptional ," Bliss said . According to Bliss, each member is trained as a soloist and eventually hopes to perform In Joffrey I. Three-quarters of those in Joffrey I were once part of Joffrey II. . Grandy has always lived in the United States and has numerous credits to her name. She has worked with Jacqueline Schumacher, Igor Schwezoff, Margaret Craske, and Robert Joffrey. Grandy has performed with many different dance companies and serves on several ballet group boards. The Joffrey II performance In Kimball Hall is sold out but there is a possibility of obtaining tickets if there are cancellations. Ron Bo win, Kimball's performing arts coordinator recommends that persons arrive an hour early and check with the box office. Zoo Bar gets a Fast Break . A . band who bills it- self as having a different approach to rhythm and blues wij&eep in off the' plains of Kansas to perform at The Zoo Bar tonight vands Saturday. Fast Break, a band from Lawrence, Ran., mixes rock with rhythm and blues to produce "white collar rhythm and blues," according' to band Spokesman, Mark Swanson. The band consists of Jim Fey, bass; Bill , Lynch, guitar; Gary ; Durrett, ' drums ; and ?; Lynn:Pi3eri guitar' and . ; steel guitar.: 'y He laid the bandV music lends Sophisticat ion to rhythm and blues which should please the crowds since he describ ed Lincoln -as a "show . case room for rhythm and blues" - A 51 cover wi3 be charged.''.;;::- & v km
