Festival to feature famous, less famous writers
Event to showcase
UNL, planner says
By Liesl Klinzman
Staff Reporter _ _____
The University of Nebraska-Lincoln will be
the host of the third annual Nebraska Literature
Festival Friday and Saturday.
The festival’s goal is to increase interest in
literature and Nebraska authors, and it has been
very successful, said Steven Shively, co-direc
tor of the festival.
One of the festival’s main attractions is a
■
book fair that will feature 30 book dealers.
“People like to browse,” said Shively, a
teaching assistant in the English department.
“And there will be a variety of new and used
books. It should be a fun time for everyone.”
Another attraction is the open reading sec
tion, which runs all day Saturday, Shively said.
Writers will have the opportunity to read their
writing in front of an audience. English pro
fessor Robert Narveson, co-director of the fes
tival, said professional writers also would read
selections from their works, as well as give
advice to new writers.
“We have well-known writers reading poet
ry and fiction writing. We also have workshops
on children’s writing arid screenwritingTVv
“We’re using the strengths of the people
speaking and conducting workshops to attract
the public and students,” he said.
This year’s festival has placed extra empha
sis on high school students, Narveson said.
“Last year at Kearney was the first high
-*«
The workshops are set up to
help students develop their
writing skills and to become
better writers.
—Ford
associate professor of English
-->f -
school day, and over 500 students showed up.
This year, I’m still getting calls from high
schools wanting to attend the festivities,” he
said.
James Ford, associate professor of English,
is in charge of the festival's high school activ
ities. He said many students planned to share
their work at the festival.
“Out of 500 students, 200 are bringing their
writing to share in the workshops,” Ford said.
“The workshops are set up to help students
develop their writing skills and to become
better writers,” he said.
Students should leave the festival not only as
better writers but also more excited about the
art of writing, Narveson said.
“When students go home, they should be
enthusiastic and charged up about writing,”
Narveson said.
The festival is sponsored by the Nebraska
Center for the Book, an affiliate of the national
center, which is an arm of the Library of
Congress, Shively said.
The first festival was held at the University
of Nebraska at Omaha in 1991, he said. Last
year’s festival was held at the University of
Nebraska at Kearney.
Most of the festival’s events will be held at
the Nebraska Union, where registration will be
early Saturday.
1 "■1 ■ 1 1 " ... . i
Strange love in ‘Romance’ lets Slater, Arquette shine
"True Romance
Ifa biography of Christian Slater
is ever made for the big screen, they
could call it: “The Good, Bad, and
Absolutely Weird.”
That title best represents his list
of movies, with the “good” refer
ring to “Pump Up The Volume”
and “Heathers”, “KufTs” for the
“bad”, and his latest film “True
Romance" for the “weird”.
There are,of course, other wends
that could be used to describe the
general feeling of True Romance”,
such as bizarre, odd, or downright
freaky, but “weird” will do.
Slater portrays Clarence
Worley, a lone-wolf type of guy
that loves comic books and old
kung fu movies. He even has Elvis
as his mentor, although the King
will only appear in bathrooms.
On his birthday, he meets up
with a call girl named Alabama
(Patricia Arquette from “Nightmare
on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors”)
at a “Street Fighter” movie triple
feature.
She’s only in her third day of
business, trot she falls for Clarence
anyway. They have»a whirlwind
made-for-cinema romance that
ends with a justice-of-the-peace
marriage.
Clarence wastes Alabama’s
former pimp in an act that is meant
to defend her honor. He then in
tends to take back all her belong
ings, but accidentally leaves with a
suitcase full of cocaine.
Thus begins the adventures of
Alabama and Clarence.
Clarence (Christian Slater) and Alabama (Patricia Arquette) are two unlikely lovers who double-cross the Detroit mob
by stealing a load of contraband and fleeing to Los Angeles.
They drive to Hollywood in their
mega-purple Cadillac to sell the
stull and to start a new life in
Cancun, while trying to avoid the
mob and police at the same time.
“True Romance” also features
an all-star cast, which includes Val
Kilmer, Gary Oldman, Dennis
Hopper, and Christopher Walken.
Even if it is a weird film, it’s a
good film. The audience is kept
hypnotized from the first frame all
the way to the end, particularly
througn the chemistry between
Slater and Arquette.
What helps this film attain the
status of “weird” is the style of
characters that director Tony Scott
(“Top Gun” and “Beverly Hills
Cop 2”) has brought to the screen,
' and the way that they interact with
one another.
One minute, we have a tense
situation between Slater ventilat
ing Alabama’s pimp (Oldman), the
next has Alabama crying about how
romantic it is of Clarence to shoot
someone in her honor.
We also have lots of stuff that
has nothing to do with the storyline,
but are interesting to see, like Brad
Pitt using aSue Bee honey bottle as
a bong and Gary Oldman sporting
a head full of dreadlocks and a scar
covered face.
See? It’s just... weird.
A romantic-action movie with
one Ijpckuva twist, it’s definitely
worth checking out, but don’t try to
follow the plot with any sense of
logic. lust go with the flow.
—Gerry Beliz
Lousy vampire noveUacks soul,
exploits and explains Nothing
“Lost Souls'*
Poppy Z. Brite
Dell?Abyss Horror
A word of warning: “Lost Souls” is
not for squeamish, or the tasteful.
If you are not troubled by endless
drug abuse, rape, bisexuality or ho
mosexual incest, even find it titillat
ing, then this book’s for you. You
might even want to check out Poppy
Z. Brite’8 second book, coming in
November, entitled “Drawing Blood.”
Brite’s first novel follows on a
string of short stories published in
anthology collections. “Lost Souls” is
a modem remake of the vampire tale
that resembles“Dracula” crossed with
“Less Than Zero” or“Generation X,
a flashy tale that is surprisingly hol
low at its core.
Tire story revolves around Noth
ing, bom of a vampire father and a
human mother: After killing his moth
er at birth, Nothing is left on a door
step and raised as a normal child —
but he turns into a nihilistic, black
clad, going-nowhere-fast adolescent.
He runs away from home, choosing a
North Carolina town as his destina
tion. The town was given as the ad
dress of a band whose locally-pro
duced cassette he received as a gift.
Once there, he meets a trio of male
vampires, and he immediately falls in
love with one of them. The problem
is, this particular vampire is his fa
ther, but that matters little to Nothing.
Thrown into the mix are two mem
bers of the band, called—what else?
— Lost Souls?, and the lead guitar
ists’ ex-girlfriend, who becomes im
pregnated by Nothing’s father/lover.
“Lost Souls” is the perfect embod
iment of a horror novel for the
“twentynothing” generation. All the
characters arc empty and angst-rid
den. They lead meaningless existenc
es, so that one really doesn’t care
when they die. In fact, you might find
yourself relieved.
Brite’s novel is a stumbling, drug
induced wandering through an end
less succession of olack leather-clad
and heavily-rouged landscapes of
wasted vouth. There’s plenty of sex,
most of it homosexual, and the sex
generally is mechanistic and gratu
itous, devoid of any emotion.
“Lost Souls” is a logical, X-rated
extension of Anne Rice’s less graphic
novels, and Francis Ford Coppola’s
erotically charged “Dracula. How
ever, like Coppola’s effort, “Lost
Souls" founders on too much style,
and not enough true substance, bank
ing a little too much on the eroticism
to carry it. Brite runs the risk of turn
ing the vampire genre into nothing
more than a sick, twisted version of
the Harlequin Romance.
—Sam Kepfield
Jam«^tehsUng/DN