Nebraskan
ArtswEntertainment
Biography dull, falls short
in chronicling artist’s life,
thoughts, controversies
Burroughs: El Hombre Invisible:
A Portrait”
Hyperion
How anyone could make the life ofWilliam
Burroughs sound dull is a mystery, but Barry
Miles succeeds at doing just that.
Maybe part of the trouble is Miles’ own
difficulty deciding just what kind of book he’s
writing.
“William Burroughs: El Hombre Invisible:
A Portrait” begins like a bad biography—with
the obligatory log cabin origins—and ends like
a bad critique of Burroughs’ writing.
Miles seems, at first, to want to paint a
portrait of Burroughs as a normal guy, far
removed from the pop culture image of the
man.
But that’s a fatal strategy in the biography of
an artist who has lived one of the most engaging
lives around.
Burroughs is famous as the reprobate junky
queer who: accidentally shot his wife, inten
tionally cut off his own little fmger with a pair
of bolt clippers — an incident Miles doesn’t
even mention, played mentor to the Beat Gen
eration, wrote the book that sparked the most
recent book-banning in American history, cre
ated cut/ups and bent time—and who may yet
write his way (Hit of death.
That's ri«hl. Burroughs is still alive and well
and living in Lawrence, Kan., where he regular
ly draws fans from around the world.
Miles makes all this chaos of a life sound like
something thought out in advance — some
thing equivocal and dead.
“Little did Burroughs know it,” he hints on
more than one occasion, “but his years of
addiction were really spent gathering material
for his novels.”
It's a simple-minded view of history that
imagines genius is destined, somehow, for great
ness.
Miles falls into this trap when, confronted
with Burroughs’ life, he looks for how Destiny
was serving one of Her chosen few — instead
of how the absolute forces of chaos shaped a
human life.
Burroughs is possessed by genius. As he
himself points out, it’s a case of possession—
he’s sometimes controlled by forces neither he
nor anyone else fully understands.
But what’s really unforgivable is the book’s
overlooking of the brilliance of Burroughs’
thoughts on the subjects of death, time ana the
human destiny of what Burroughs calls the
“human artifact.”
Probably, like most people, Miles found
these ideas too bizarre to comprehend. And,
ever the loyal fan, he refrains from critiquing
them at all.
When hewrites of Burroughs’ ideas he holds
them at arm’s length, afraid to engage, afraid to
ignore.
That’s a tragedy, considering the impor
tance these same ideas may have for human
history.
This is a book written by a fan, a fate no
writer as eminent as Burroughs deserves.
The author of “Naked Lunch” deserves bet
ter.. He deserves someone tp wrestle with, a
partner in bringing his ideas to a public that
already loves his writing.
—Mark Baldridge
Photo courtesy of Hyperion
Lively video releases
offer action, thrills,
a taste of cannibalism
Dramatic ami traumatic arc the
best words to describe this week's
video releases. Toss in a big gun or
two, some chilling background
music and a killer black chiffon
dress and that's everything.
“Alive" is based on a true story
— an action-packed drama with
more than its share of tears and
trauma. A plane filled with a Chil
ean team of rugby players and their
families crashes in the Andes.
The survivors must deal with
life and death in more ways than
they had ever expected. Tnev re
sort to an unpleasant means of sur
vival —cannibalism. But director
Frank Marshall handles the grisly
subject matter with subtlety and
elicits memorable performances
from his stars, especially Ethan
Hawke and Vincent Spano. A must
see.
“Point of No Return" Bridget
Fonda stars in this Hollywood re
make of the French film “La Femme
Nikita.”
Fonda stars as a junkie who is
convicted of murder. She is saved
from execution by government
agent Gabriel Byrne, only to be
turned into an assassin.
Trained to perfection by Byrne,
she’s cut loose to establish a new
identity and told to wait for instruc
tions. In the meantime she begins a
new life, filled with the opportuni
ties for change.
Part of that life includes a new
boyfriend, played by Dermot
Mulroney, a photographer she
meets on the beach. Sne keeps him
in the dark about her secret life, but
of course, it can’t stay that way.
Although this version lacks the
finesse of the original, it is none
theless a captivating movie with a
great soundtrack. Fonda is terrify
ing in the beginning as the strung
out junkie, and even more lethal as
an assassin in black chiffon. Worth
seeing.
“This Boy’s Life” Robert
DeNiro plays yet another psychot
ic bastard. This time he’s an alco
holic and abusive stepfather to new
comer Leonardo DiCaprio. Based
on the best-selling, semi-autobio
graphical book by Tobias Wolff, it
also co-stars Ellen Barkin as the
boy’s weak and troubled mother.
If these titles don’t pique any
interest, there’s always the latest
installment in video erotica: “Night
Eyes 3** with Andrew Stevens as a
security agent hired to protect Play
mate Shannon Tweed from her
stalker. Or try one of the first three
volumes of the collected episodes
of Nickelodeon’s “The Ren and
Stimpy Show.”
'— Anne Steyer
_
Latest Theodore Roosevelt novel
doesn’t provide new information
to enhance buff’s knowledge
Nathan Miller
“Theodore Roosevelt: A Life”
Morrow
The noted historian Nathan Miller,
whose previous works include “FDR:
An Intimate History” and “The
Roosevelt Chronicles, has written a
simplistic, candid portrait of the 26th
president of the United States,
Theodore Roosevelt.
Although two fairly recent works,
“The Rise ofTheodore Roosevelt” by
Edmund Morris and “Mornings on
Horseback” by David McCullough,
provided detailed accounts of
Roosevelt’s early life, Miller’s book
is the first lull one-volume biography
of the man to appear in 35 years.
There are several skeptical asser
tions made at the outset of the book.
The most notable is Miller’s claim
that “probably no president has more
captured the imagination of the Amer
ican people” than Roosevelt. Most
historians would arsue that Abraham
Lincoln fits that role better.
Moreover, Miller writes, “If Amer
icans were polled on which past pres
ident they would like to have in the
White House today, Roosevelt would
probably be the winner.”
That question has been asked for
many years by the Gallup Poll and the
answer was actually John Kennedy or
Lincoln.
The most effective element of
Miller’s biography is its ability to
make us understand the complexity of
Roosevelt.
Accounts are given of Roosevelt
taking a portion of Panama for the
U.S. canal project, mediating the
Russo-Japanese War of 1905 (for
which he won the 1910 Nobel Peace
Moreover; Miller
writes, "It Americans
were polled on which
pest president they
would like to have In
the White House
today, Roosevelt
would probably be the
winner.”
That question has
been asked for many
years by the Gallup
Poll and the answer
was actually John
Kennedy or Lincoln.
Prize), campaigning for regulatory
reform and coining the term “muck
rakers,” a reference to crusading jour
nalists not intended as a compliment.
The notion that Roosevelt was a
one-of-a-kind American phenomenon
is an important theme in the book. He
was a pioneering president who was
the first American leader to have an
impact in world affairs, the first to
trumpet the United States as a global
superpower and the first environmen
tal president. As both a lovable teddy
bear and a stem, hard line politician,
he was committed to a “Square Deal"
at home while wielding a “Big Stick”
overseas.
Miller uses previously unavailable
letters between Roosevelt and Alice
Lee, his first wife, to discuss
Roosevelt’s private life in consider
able detail. Miller never overlooks his
subject as a jack-of-all-trades.
“Life bubbled over in him like a
laughter from a healthy child,” he
writes in the prologue.
“He had punched cattle, led the
charge up San Juan Hill, hunted big
game, and waved his fist under J.P.
Morgan’s rubicund nose. A man of
contradictions and barley contained
energies, he exercised strenuously,
yet read a book a day.”
Of course, all these elements of
Roosevelt’s life are considerably ex
Kin the chapter’s that follow.
Her never abandons the sim
plistic tone that is echoed in his con
cise introduction.
“Theodore Roosevelt: A Life” is a
relatively slim work that provides a
clear foundation to the saga of the
man’s brill iant political career as well
as his diverse private life. Those who
already have a firm understanding of
Roosevelt will find little in this book
to enhance their knowledge.
—Neil Feldman