Speaking of James Farrell, he wrote a tetralogy (sp?--four books) called the "Danny O'Neill" series, which, in my view, are just great. Wonderful characters, powerfully written. The second or third of the set is called "Father and Son" I believe and it just blew me away. One of the novels has a poem by A.E. Housman at the beginning. It's one of my favorites.
Stars I have seen them fall
But when they drop and die
No star is lost at all
>From all the star-strewn sky
The toil of all that be Helps not the final fault It rains into the sea And still the sea is salt
I hope I got that right. Anyway, go to the library and get the novels. They're great.
Michael Yates
James Devine wrote:
>
> Louis P writes: > It is important to understand that Studs Lonigan is
> everything that a proletarian hero should not be. He is a bum and a
> reactionary. The final pages of the novel depict a May Day demonstration
> and Lonigan on his death bed says that the cops should beat in their heads.<
>
> this is the kind of thing that left art needs. In the film SALVADOR, the
> character played by James Woods is a _total and utter_ asshole. This makes
> the preachiness of the film more bearable, more able to sway the opinions
> of those not already converted. I'm the type who likes novels like
> Steinbeck's IN DUBIOUS BATTLE, but I doubt that anyone who isn't already a
> leftist does.
>
> Maybe it's like e-mail messages on lbo-talk: we have to write thinking
> about the others reading our messages rather than simply responding to the
> person we're replying to.
>
> Jim Devine jdevine at popmail.lmu.edu &
> http://clawww.lmu.edu/Departments/ECON/jdevine.html
> "There's nothing wrong with the planet. The planet is fine... Been here 4
> 1/2 billion years. We've been here, what a 100,000 years, maybe 200,000.
> And we've only engaged in heavy industry a little over 200 years. 200 years
> vs. 4 1/2 billion. And we have the conceit to think that somehow we're a
> threat? The planet isn't going away. We are." -- George Carlin.