J
^ Book Reviews
I
The Beatles Illustrated Lyrics
ed. by Alan Aldridge
A Seymour Lawrence Book
Delacorte Press
155 pp., $5.95
By JOHN BENDIX
The Beatles’ lyrics can’t be looked upon as being an
independent type of poetry, their lyrics are a part of a
whole with chaotic stops, starts and fits which only
niake !ense when music, lyric, performer and time
become one. Seeing Beatles lyrics on paper is fine for
hose people (a near-majority of the young) who can fill
the rest of the whole in their inner ear.
The songs fill our minds with images of life, events
3nd the fantastic. Alan Aldridge, a young English graphic
^signer, transforms the thought-images occasioned by
he Beatles’ songs, into illustrations, with artists such as
omi Ungerer, Brian Love, David Bailey and Robert
fossman, in his new book The Beatles Illustrated
Most of the time these optic transfers succeed.
For
, .'f'stance, photographer Enzo Ragazzini illustrates
^hen I’m Sixty-four” with a series of pictures of a man
that age which slowly refract into a multi-imaged
series of reflections of eternity, or oblivion. Rich Griffen
concretizes “Why don ’t we do it in the road” with an
fP'c comic strip, and Robert Grossman condenses “Back
the USSR” with a plastic Playmate-like Russian
®J0rette high-stepping while twirling a hammer and
kle. Most of the illustrations are adequate, a few are
and a couple are irrelevant. The pictures can help
us our thoughts on the songs, andat times add a new
'sual dimension to the Beatles’ music a la Yeljffw
^'ibrnarine.
g Aldridge’s book contains the lyrics of about 100
“Th ^*ugs; songs from their early days through their
df ” double album. It should be noted that
the I contain the music to the songs, just
illu small print, leaving plenty of room for the
jQ ^'rations. Remember, this is an artbook and not a
extracts from Hunter Davies’ biography
Qj ® °eatles fill out the book. I can’t tell you not to buy,
the ^ book-The Beatles, and everything about
myth and fact, are many things to many people/
tra*^ lilce our times, a mixture o6 denseness and
^^'tsparency. It’s all in the eye and ear of the beholder.
your bookstore, pick-up a copy of this book, leaf
‘‘'^oughitand....
^•■vival in Space
pV Dr. Vladimir Lebedev and Yuri Gagarin
'■^eger $5.95 Bantam PB 95 cents 166 PP.
By DAVID J. MILLER
top V and the late Yuri Gagarin have put
spa^ ^ fascinating account of the human side of the
the ^ Taken mostly from the training sessions of
in the problems and solutions in Survival
Cos shaped by the distinctly Russian view of the
not man’s place in it. Sources are miscellaneous;
Hip is Pavlov quoted copiously, but also
and '’is (don’t laugh) theory of the humors,
Tsioik Avicenna, Isaac Asimov, the inimitable
Slo °''skii (forerunner of space thinkers), Joshua
"U' and various Russian scientists and inventors
Jordan
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december 17,1969 the Carolina Journal page 7
Blythe writing award
Ihe Le Gette Blythe award is presented
annually to a UNCC student for creative
writing. Students eligible for the award
will be those officially enrolled at UNCC
at the time of entry and at the date of the
awarding.
Mr. Blythe is rewarding a large silver
cup on which the name of each year's
winner will be engraved, and also a small
silver replica of the larger cup for the
winner, to keep in an effort to stimulate
and reward creative writing at UNCC.
Mr. Blythe is widely known for his
numerous books, such as, BROTHERS
OF VENGEANCE. SHOUT FREEDOM!,
and the CHATHAM RABBIT He is also
remembered as the author of last year's
succe^l outdoor drama "The Hornet's
Nest" held in connection with Charlotte's
Bi-Centennial Celebration.
Entries may be submitted either by the
author or by sponsors (with the author's
permission). All entries should be in a
form easy to duplicate. Previous
publication of the entry is not necessary
for eligibility.
There is no specific limitation on the
type of writing which may be entered.
The judges for the award will not be
restricted to faculty or administrative
personnel. The Judges will also include
select persons off-campus.
Manuscripts should be mailed or
delivered to Dr. Darryl McCall of the
UNCC English Department for
submission to the board of judges. Entries
will be returned to authors if stamped,
self-addressed envelopes are provided.
Each author or sponsor is asked to keep
copies of entries submitted. The deadline
will be announced at a later date.
WHISPERS FROM A CONTINENT;
The Literature of Contemporary Black Africa
by Wilfred Cartey.
Vintage $1.95
By DAVID J. MILLER
The field is new, relatively untouched by literary
plows. The first really in-depth book about African
literature should be really good. Dr. Cartey almost
makes it with Whispers from a Continent. His criticism is
quick, keen, perceptive; his writing is clear, often witty.
However, he has not winnowed the smaller talents from
his material. He limits himself severely to thematic and
textual criticism.
For most people, every author touched upon in this
book will be an unfamiliar name. After all, African
literature is a relatively new subject. If you weren’t
paying attention, you might have missed Wole Soyinka,
who has had two plays offiBroadway, or Chinua Achebe,
whose trilogy of Ibo life limns the profound social
changes of the last hundred years in Nigeria.
Dr. Cartey introduces each new author with the sure
hand of a practiced host, yet it is not the authors that
we get to know. The real subject of Dr. Cartet’s book is
Mother Africa herself, the Black giantess who has
awakened at last. But, like the Zen story of the
mountain that was a mountain then it was not a
mountain then it was, the Africa to which the
European-educated “been-tos” return, is and isn’t same.
The only return possible is mythic, through literature,
and particularly through poetry and drama.
Practically every author that- Cartey includes in his
survey has accepted the promise of a better world as
seen by Europeans, has become alienated from his native
land in order to save it from European colonialism by
European means: law, sience, politics, religion. While
some have been captivated by the dream of Europe,
others have gone to the cities, creating a new urban
world to live in. In the end, it is a new Africa, tempered
by the bad and the good of European experience, that
now has found the voices for an African conversation.
Dr. Cartey’s accomplishment is commensurate with his
labors; he has done his homework. Whispers from a
Continent makes a good first book for African literary
studies. Like a Whitman’s Sampler, you get a lot of
tastes to choose from.
whose names are not household words.
For the Russian view of things, here’s how the first
paragraph starts: “Around 100,000 years ago a glacier
began to move across Europe bringing with it a sharp
drop in temperature...” How’s that for long-term
perspective, technical bias, and utter opposition of man
and nature? The whole book is shaped like a great arrow
zinging its way past all obstacles to the Great Future of
Mankind.
The first flights in space were flights of imagination.
Among the dreamers, Tsiolkovskii deserves mention. He
first suggested a number of things, among them, using
the plant-animal ecology in space to solve the oxygen
and water problem. It’s not as simple as he thought, but
a rhicroscopic green algae called Chlorella will probably
accompany man on long journeys. This algae may also
be the major source of food.
Gagarin and Lebedev reason thusly in their final sales
pitch; “To be a cosmonaut one need not be a
superman...nothing human is alien to them...The
cosmonaut must learn mathematics, physics, astronomy,
cybernetics, radio technology, electronics, metallurgy,
chemistry, biology, psychology, physiology...Only a
strong organism can sustain the training program...Space
will submit only to the strong.” End of pitch, end of
book. So, do your homework, kids, space is waiting for
you.
The Sports page will not appear this week
week due to technical difficulties. It will
resume regular publication after Christmas.
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