#91

“Brecht held that an actor should play his role from a distance, almost tongue-in-cheek, as though commenting on the part rather than losing himself in it. He felt that even the backstage activity should be made obvious to the audience. The point of theater, to Brecht, wasn't for the spectators to lose themselves in the play, but to consider the issues raised, reflect on the interactions of the characters, think about different possibilities and outcomes” (Dirda, 2008: 37)

DIRDA, Michael (2008). “Spellbound” in The New York Review Of Books, December 4 – 17, Volume LV, Number 19. New York: The New York Review Of Books.

#23

“The ruthless recording eye made Updike unpopular with some women readers, especially back in the salad days of Theory, when talk of the “male gaze” was the fashion. Piet notes in Foxy's nakedness “the goosebumped roughness of her buttocks, the gray unpleasentness of her armpits....” But in Updike as in life, bodies are rarely perfect, unlike in the movies; this is fictional realism and goosebumps do not stand in the way of the lover's transcendent pleasure. While she fellates him “lazily,” he combs her lovely hair and reflects on her “coral cunt, coral into burgundy, with its pansy-shaped M, or W, of fur”; then it comes to him that mouths are noble. “They move in the brain's court. We set our genitals mating down below like peasants, but when the mouth condescends, mind and body marry”” (McEwan, 2009: 4).

MCEWAN, Ian (2009). “On John Updike” in The New York Review Of Books, March 12 – 25, Volume LVI, Number 4. New York: The New York Review Of Books.