University of Virginia Library

Something To Offend Everyone

'Spectator' Here At Last

By Fred Heblich
Cavalier Daily Staff Writer

About a month ago editor John
Clayton and company promised us
a and sure enough,
mama, they gave us one!

The most noticeable quality
about the "Spectator" is that it is
offensive; just about everyone from
President Shannon to John (YAF)
Kwapisz is verbally assassinated,
and everyone in between is at least
slightly slurred. But scattered
among the dirty jokes and uncalled
for insults is some good legitimate
literature and some clever humor.

The "Spectator" is a
conglomeration of satire, which
ranges from fair to terrible, and
serious writing, some of which is
excellent, and saves the
"Spectator" from disaster.

It seems that the "Spectator" is
trying to fill the gap left by the
demise of "Rapier," and at the
same time trying to showcase some
original artistic writing, which has
been the endeavor of the
"Unicorn," this year. The fact
remains that the "Spectator" tries a
bit too hard. It seems to have no
direction, and at times it can't
make up its mind whether it wants
to be "Evergreen Review" or the
Virginia Weekly. For this it suffers.

University Game

On the humor-satire side
"University: a game nearly anyone
can play" is the highlight. It is the
product of Walker Chandler, Chris
Dickey, Alan Shearer, John
Clayton, and the pen of Thomas
Smith. The article pictures the
Rotunda-Lawn complex as a monopoly
board, and a student's
University career as a game. The
concept is clever, and some humorous
pokes are taken at the more
absurd aspects of University life.
The main targets in this article, as
in most of the magazine, are the
administration and the University
"drug-hip" community:

The interview with "Virginia's
Ultra-Right Wing: The SOB"
(Society for Oppression and Bigotry)
is a caricature of reactionary
right-wing organizations. Some of it
(especially the photograph by Mr.
Dickey) is funny, but parts of it are
outdated and filled with in-jokes.
The language is at times less than
proper, although its presence is
debatable. On the whole the article
succeeds in barely hurdling the last
grasps of mediocrity.

Faillus In Wonderland

Messrs, Estes and Dickey's
"Phallus In Wonderland" is only
mediocre. It is a satire of Freudian
interpretation of literature, taken
to the extreme.

The authors give a Freudian
interpretation of Lewis Carroll's
classic children's story, and delve
into the psyche of Carroll, concluding
that the book was written
for and about Carroll's libidinal
desire for a child named Phallus
Liddell. The authors go to no small
trouble to prove their thesis,
pointing out such obvious symbols
as the white rabbit (virginity), the
caterpillar (phallus), and the Cheshire
Cat (female genitalia).

A knowledge of Carroll's classic
is not needed to appreciate the
attempt of Messrs, Estes and
Dickey, but either a No Doz or
patient mind is advisable as one
wades through the dull stylized
language to find the funny parts.

Mr. Estes is obviously troubled
by an unresolved Oedipus
Complex, and Mr. Dickey probably
suffers from a guilt complex caused
by an unhappy childhood.

That brings us to the salvation
of the "Spectator" the serious
writing.

William Bailie's essay, "The
Spirit of Anarchy," is probably the
best feature of the "Spectator." It
carries the entire intellectual load
that the magazine seems to feel is
demanded of it.

Mr. Baile slices through the
commonplace concept of anarchy
Walker Chandler and Charles
Hurdock of two years ago) and
succeeds in giving a workable,
positive definition of the essence of
anarchy: the spirit of self-reliance
and individuality.

Mr. Baillie points to past
thinkers (Herbert Spencer, Tolstoy,
and others) and movements dating
back to the primitive Christians,
who showed anarchistic tendencies,
as he defines the word. Whether
one agrees with him or not, Mr.
Baillie is quite convincing in destroying
the notion that anarchy was
invented by nineteenth century
intellectuals and bomb throwers
who believed that if man was better
off with less government, he would
be best off with no government at
all.

His most interesting point is in
pitting anarchy at the polar opposite
of socialism. But the whole
essay is both interesting and excellent
and makes the "Spectator"
worth purchasing.

Pleasant Story

Mr. Chandler's short sketch
"The North Country" is a pleasant
excursion into a personal experience
between a young man and an
older girl (named Canada?) in
Montreal.

The story does not in any way
fit into the tone of the magazine,
but it is a very commendable effort
at displaying romantic adolescent
love melting, sadly, into maturity.
The style is rich, and the story on
the whole is encouraging.

Unfortunately, Robert Rickert's
poetry is mediocre. He deals with
all the "in" themes: black is
beautiful, stop the war, middle-class
distaste for art, and of course, sex.

It is hard to agree with Mr.
Clayton who promises that Mr.
Rickert "may well be numbered
among the finest poets of our
generation." Mr. Rickert's efforts
are lacking in originality and
uniqueness, and his style and
are awkward.

For poetry enthusiasts, turn to
"Boating," the lone contribution
by Bonni Chandler. It is much
better, simpler, and honest.

In The Ditch

The one act play, "The Ditch,"
by Tom Blake is unappealing, and
at times lapses into triteness.
Thematically the play deals with
man's problem of accepting randomness
in his life, and the
meaninglessness of life's activities.

The play could be classified as
"theater of the absurd," but that
won't make it any better. Mr. Blake
seems to have borrowed heavily
from Harold Pinter and Thomas
Stoppard, for both his theme and
style, and added little.

Besides lacking taste, the
"Spectator" lacks balance. There is
no plot, as it were, or continuity to
the magazine. What destroys continuity
more than anything else is
the presence of numerous dirty
jokes scattered throughout the
pages. They were probably placed
in the magazine either as a put-on
or as space fillers, but they
adequately function to destroy any
rhythm the "Spectator" might have
had.

The presence of the jokes is
uncalled for, but their positioning is
criminal. To have dirty jokes placed
among the humor articles is one
thing, but when they infiltrate even
the pages of a serious essay, one
wonders if maybe the whole magazine
is a put-on.

Problems, Problems

On the technical side, the
adjective "terrible" is accurate. On
the outside the "Spectator" has the
appearance of an underground rag,
not even comparable to "Nipple."
On the inside, the typography is
unbelievably bad. The lettering is
sloppy, and misspellings are
common. Being apologetic, it must
be understood that the "Spectator"
was ready for print in November,
but was delayed because of troubles
(censorship) with the printer. Then
it was suddenly rushed off to press
to a different printer and given
birth in its present aborted form.

The art work though, by Tom
Smith, John Tenniel, and Mr.
Chandler is quite good. It is too bad
there is not more photography, or
additional art work.

The problem in reading the
"Spectator" and appreciating its
good points (which might seem
non-existent at first) is to overcome
the offensive, insulting odor one
senses permeating the pages from
cover to cover.

UVM Heritage

The change to the name
"Spectator" is an attempt to
disguise its heritage: the UVM. Mr.
Clayton reminds us (as if it were
necessary) that the name UVM has
become synonymous with mediocrity.
Out of its paranoia, the
"Spectator" goes to extremes to
destroy the image of the old UVM.

That it does. But the new image
is not any more appealing.

There is bound to be some
reaction to the "Spectator." Too
many people are insulted in it, and
probably many more will be offended
by it. In any case you
should buy a copy of the
"Spectator" when it hits the
newsstands (if any allow it) on
Wednesday so that you will know
what is going on when the
screaming starts.