University of Virginia Library

Quasi-Satire

The magazine opens, as always,
with Spectator, an outgrowth of
Robert Rosen's old Pell Mell, with
some of the same faults. It tends to
be somewhat overwritten in its
forlorn search for guffaws and
laughter. It generally succeeds, but
even where the anecdotes fall flat,
it is necessary as it sets the tone for
the entire magazine. The interesting
feature on this page is the three
photographs, which, in addition to
being interesting pictures, serve as a
visual table of contents.

Thomas Britt's "Letters from
Academe: Walpurgisnacht at Winston"
is a quasi-satire that survives a
hopelessly drawn out beginning to
become a fairly successful and
somewhat relevant, if overworked,
comment on student revolution.
Some of his devices are childishly
absurd (a group of student militants
called the SAS, some black militants
called the Black Jaguars) and
it also tends to be overwritten in
many spots, but the story in general
succeeds. It could, however, be
much better. Still, Mr. Britt is an
excellent writer (his Gut Vidal
story from a couple of months back
is one of the funniest things I've
ever read), and I look forward to
seeing more from him in the future.