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Friday, April 2, 1982
Daily Nebraskan
Aits & Entertainment
Award-winning novel a confusion of fact, fiction
By Pat Higgins
"I started out knowing that I was going
to write about kidnapping JD. Salinger
and taking him to Fenway Park to see a
baseball game," said W.P. Kinsella, explain
ing the origins of his new novel Shoeless
Joe.
Kinsella was in Lincoln recently for the
Intersections Conference sponsored by the
Center for Great Plains Studies. Shoeless
Joe is this year's Houghton Mifflin Literary
Fellowship winner. Previous recipients have
included such literary stars as Phillip Roth
and Robert Stone.
Shoeless Joe is a totally absorbing fable
about classic American myths, specifically,
baseball and J.D. Salinger. It is quite amus
ing and heartwarming - somewhat similar
to a Kurt Vonnegut or Tom Robbins
approach. Being a baseball fan is not
mandatory but it certainly helps.
Baseball the key
The basic premise of Shoeless Joe deals
with an Iowa farmer named Ray Kinsella
who is jolted out of a typically mundane
existence when he begins to hear voices.
These voices sound like the Holy Spirit in
the form of a sportscaster. These religious
pronouncements inspire Ray to do a
variety of unconventional, if not weird,
activities which tend to be amusing. Base
ball is the key aspect of Ray's vision.
"There is something timeless and
ritualistic about baseball that makes it
magical," Kinsella said. Actually I'm an
atWest and am adamantly opposed to
organized religion but baseball has a certain
religious quality about it."
Includes Salinger
J.D. Salinger, author of Catcher in the
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Photo by P- Eric Kircher
Novelist W.P. Kinsella relaxes during a recent interview in Lincoln. Kinsella, author of Shoeless Joe, was in Lincoln for the In
tersections Conference, a writers' convention.
Rye and other tales of adolescent angst is
used in Shoeless Joe as a semi-fictional
character. In the book, Salinger is intially
skeptical but he eventually joins in Ray's
visions of baseball. In real life, Salinger is
well known for his desire for privacy.
"I've always admired Salinger's work,"
Kinsella said. "While I was doing research
for Shoeless Joe, I re-read all of Salinger's
work. In Catcher in the Rye there is a
character named Richard Kinsella, and
then I found a short story by him (Saling
er) in a 1947 Mademoiselle that had a
character named Ray Kinsella. Then I
decided to use my name in Shoeless Joe
to further confuse fact with fiction."
"I spent a few days with the libel
lawyers in Boston but since I show Salinger
in such a favorable manner I don't think
that he would be angry. I would never try
to personally invade his privacy."
Baseball fan
Kinsella lives in Alberta, Canada, and
has published four collections of short stor
ies. "I look at myself as a story teller," he
said. "I did find that writing a novel is
easier for me than writing short stories."
Kinsella is most definitely a baseball
fan. He and his wife spend the summer
visiting various major league cities to watch
games.
"I write about baseball as myth and
ritual but I have no illusions about what
baseball really is," Kinsella said. "However,
we do tend to live by ritual."
Kinsella said that he is a dedicated
Yankee-hater and the only rule change he
approved of was the American League's
adoption of the designated hitter.
"I could have been a pretty fair
designated hitter," he said. "I couldn't
field, though. They always put me in right
field."
Program, concert
highlight weekend
Mankind's search for a cosmic identity is the subject of
"Child of the Universe", a new program in the Ralph
Mueller Planetarium. "Child" deals with the fundamental
questions raised whenever men contemplate their place in
the scheme of all that exists. This program was created by
Jack F. Horkheimer, executive director of the Miami
Space Transit Planetarium. It is a winner of the Interna
tional Award for Multi-Media and has become known as a
"classic" in the planetarium community. "Child" is a fav
orite of planetarium audiences.
"Child of the Universe" begins Saturday at the Mueller
Plantarium in the State Museum on the UNL campus. It
will be presented on the following schedule: Saturdays,
2:30 pjn.; Sundays, 2:30 and 3:45 p.m.; Weekdays, by
reservations only; call 472-2642 for information.
Hie UNL University Chorale and the Varsity Men's
Glee Club will present a joint performance on Sunday in
honor of the 50th anniversary celebration of the Nebraska
Capitol. This free public concert will begin at 3 p.m. in
the Capitol Rotunda.
The University Chorale, under the direction of Carolee
R. Curtright, will open Sunday's concert with "Awake
and Arise" by Edward Gibbons, "Fragments from the
Mass" and "Alleluia" by Emma Lou Diemer, and "And
Back Again" by Dede Duson. The Varsity Glee Club will
join the Chorale to sing "Ave Maris Stella" by Trond Ever
no. The Varsity Men's Glee Club, directed by Ralph Miller,
will conclude Sunday's program with "Christ the Lord
Hath Risen" by Chant; "April is in My Mistress' Face" by
Morley; "Come Again Sweet Love" by Dowland; "Some
times I Feel" and "Blow the Man Down", arranged by R.
Shaw, and "Jerry", arranged by L. dePaur. The 45-mem-ber
University Chorale and the 60-member Varsity Men's
Glee Club are select groups designed to explore choral lit
erature for treble and bass voices respectively. Both
groups perform at Kimball Hall and throughout the Lin
coln and Omaha areas.
Salad bar features 80 items
By Chris Hodges
A salad bar for salad aficionados opened Monday in
the Colonial Room at the Nebraska Union. The new
salad bar is gigantic and features 80 food items.
At $3.50, the all-you-can-eat bar is not everyday
fare for budget-minded students. The food is of high
quality and enormous quantity.
Once the $3.50 has been paid, prepare for a feast.
The bar includes the following:
1. Salad - Iceberg lettuse, bib lettuce and spinach.
2. Toppings - Uncountable number of combinations.
3. Bread - White, dark and rye.
4. Soup - Chicken, beef or soup d jour.
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5. Meat - Roast beef, ham, corn beef, turkey, sal
ami and Branswager.
6. Cheese - Bricks of Swiss, Cheddar and Husker.
7. Dessert - Chocolate or lemon mousse and rice
pudding.
8. Beverage - Entire pot of coffee, tea or milk.
The deluxe salad bar was installed in the Colonial
Room, southeast corner of the union during spring
break. Ron Pushcar, assistant director of food services,
said he came up with the idea and hopes it will draw
more people to the Colonial Room.
"We're interested in making available every item
possible with a salad bar," he said.
Smorgasbord
The possibilities are mind-boggling. This is a
smorgasbord that picky eaters might as well avoid.
Everyone else will revel in the multitude of baskets,
plates and containers piled full of enticing goodies.
Salad, alone, offers many combinations. The lettuce
and spinach are crisp and cool. Choice of dressings
includes Bleu Cheese, Italian, Ranch, Thousand Island,
French and Catalina. For the health-food eater, there
are alfalfa sprouts, bean sprouts and sunflower seeds.
For the vegetable lover, the bar offers zucchini, pea
pods, olives, mushrooms, cucumbers, scallions and to
matoes. Everything rests on a huge bed of ice.
The cole slaw, macaroni and potato salads are bland
but creamy. The cherry peppers are mild, and the pi
ckled beets and three-bean salad are slightly tangy.
Perhaps the spiciest food item is the marinated veg
etable mix - zesty disks of scalloped carrots and chop
ped celery. The carrot-and-raisin salad is sweet and
crunchy.
Without a doubt, the fresh meats and cheeses are
the best bargains of the meal. For $3 JO, all-you-can-eat,
the Colonial Room blows McDonald's right out of
the picture.
Quality meat
This is not pre-packaged meat. The beef is sliced
from a roast and rolled into finger-sized bits. The
same goes for the ham and corned beef., The turkey is
boned and pressed, but it is still higliKjuality meat.
The cheese is primo. None of the supermarket
grade, pre-sliced cheese that tastes like plastic card
board. Each cheese comes in an enormous block. The
Swiss is aged and flavorful, the Cheddar and Husker are
mild.
Now that you've blown your diet, you might as well
have dessert. The chocolate mousse is rich and fluffy
and not overly sweet. The lemon mousse tastes like
fresh lemon, absent of artificial flavoring. The rice pud
ding is mildly nutmeg-flavored.
All in all, the Colonial Room's salad bar provides
a meal that everyone should treat themselves to at
least once. Possibly twice. Maybe as often as your
budget or diet will allow you to get away with