University of Virginia Library

Magazine Lacks
Literary Matter

By Chuck Woody
Cavalier Daily Staff Writer

Openings issue of the University
of Virginia Magazine is big on
layout and artwork but small in
literary content.

The magazine is well put together
with little wasted space. There is
good use of "air" or white space,
and the pages are tight with copy
and advertising.

But what hurts the issue is the
quality of the fiction and poetry.
For example, "From the Observatory"
presents a re-hash of old Cavalier
Daily editorials. The local telephone
system, the Groundskeeper
and big name bands for Big Weekends
have already become trite questions.
"X," a short story by Jack
Coe, rates nothing more than a
"huh?" and a "what did he say?"

The humor section "Would You
Believe It or Not" was a clever
idea and well done. "Girls at the
University—Look Around," however,
is a holdover from last year
when UVM took a tour of girls'
schools. The writing was as bad
as Playboy's, which it tried to
imitate. If the article was about
girls and coeducation here, why
didn't it discuss how many girls
are here, interview the Dean of
Women or quote people like Dean
T. Braxton Woody? The poetry feature,
"Three Faces of Love," has
a beautiful picture of a couple and
the ocean but the other pictures
were bizarre. The photographs were
better than the poems, though.

After four or five readings, "Between
Us," a poem by E. C.
Carson, takes some direction. "At
Lake Reyovia," which is the summer
playground for local Charlottesville
residents and very close to
America, was in the mediocre class,
while "The Slighted Song of a
Blue Guitar" by W. Perry Epes
was the best of the three.

"Finest Moments," a cover story
of three new coaches, showed imagination.
The articles on the
wrestling, lacrosse and soccer
coaches could have gone into more
detail. For example, the story about
Coach Burris never said what he
coached, but just how much enthusiasm
and drive he expected from
the soccer team.

The last two poems in the magazine,
"Crumpling" and "The Dead
Night," were very good and accented
by creative artwork.