European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - December 18, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse Book review thirsty for a Good read open up Demon box1 Aynor Mzeigler staff writer in the desert hat has been american literature Over the last Quarter Century there have been few writers of Allenl to relieve he unrelenting bleakness. Stories of individual struggle and the Absurdity of the human condition have been largely displaced by trivial tales of Urban ennui and suburban neurosis. And the collective viewpoint seems to have shrunk from that of a traveler eager to know the world on any terms to hat of a professor peering Over a desk on a Safe Little Campus or staring at tie Selling from a psychiatrist s Couch. Thankfully there have been exceptions to Harrison the Lale Truman Carole Edward Abbey sometimes Norman Mailer. But the Best of them is Ken Kesey. Kesey burst onto the scene in 1962 Wilh his stunning tragicomic first novel one flew Over the cuckoo s nest and followed in up iwo years later with the masterpiece Saga of an Oregon logging family. Sometimes 3 great notion. But then he went strangely silent. In More than 20 years he produced Only one Book a collection of sketches cared garage Sale published in 1974. Now the Man who once said he had stopped writing because he would rather be a lightning Rod than a Seismograph is Back with another Winner. Demon Box is a collection of stories essays and even a children s tale. Much of in is a Memoir thinly disguised autobiography starting with tarnished Galahad Devlin Desoree s read Kese a prison term served for a drug conviction and recounting various adventures from a trip to Egypt in the search for the Secrel Pyramid to an assignment covering the chinese Marathon in run into great Wail. This is the Kesey we remember the literary wrestler taking on All subjects and pinning them. Nothing escapes the powerful grasp of his style whether he s writing about the epic Battle Between two bulls in Abdul and Ebenezer of about the hell s Angels in last Lime the Angels came up in the Day after Superman died Kesey evokes memories of neat Cassady the bebop fastest Analite and erstwhile pal of Jack Kerouac. It is a poignant Eulogy o the Man who drove the Day Glo Green bus Kesey and his merry pranksters Rode to adventures be los and happenings during Hose Days when Kesey was a guru to the turned on and the dropped out across the United states. But in is also a lament Al the passing of an Era and a paean to the 60s to Flower Power counterculture and psychedelic drugs and a Lime when tie dyed to shirts and Blue jeans not orlon and Rayon were the uniform of the Day. In the end it is a prose poem on the passing of generations and growing old and of course the inevitability of death. Now we know How Many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall recalls the murder of John Lemon and attempts to understand the madness thai spawns such acts. It also Lacolly acknowledges the failures of the 60s, personified by the aging drifter John the Groupie who admits i got Good and turned on and i guess i never been Able to gel turned the Story gives a chilling assessment of the nation s darkening spiritual climate but holds out Hope for the Victory of the Voung some will object to the few parts of the Book that celebrate psychedelic drugs to which Kesey was introduced As a Volunteer in a government funded study and seem to glorify a time of turmoil in the United Stales. Bui few will fail to recognize the Talent of a great writer who left us alone too Long. Your problem Desoree quotes his father As saying is you keep trying to unscrew the we can Only wish there were a few More writers of Kese i Caliper willing and Able to do the same. Vol Smarch compiled by Bob mar ton Chuck fete a Matt town by and slut time Type data Tea myth Loo Loo a it town location Germany he. Sun. 0730-1300 em.l8un.07m.imo Bull. 0700-1300 61. 1 000-1400 & Bun. Dmo-1mo in in in in 10 ton 12km it fat 10km Tom Ham Nhim Burg Tuu Skokut tin Jiuu 9dkmn.w.ofsuittnm i Ptim Phi Patel or 33kms.ot8lubgirt 4skinn.e.alhimbura Conlon adds notch in Volks marching Oban Vern pulling in Frei Reutlinger Munich is ten year old Chris Conlon has added another notch to his Short Volks marching Cane. The Munich fifth grader recently completed the 240-Ki Rometer vol Smarch around Munich. Conlon began the March in july with his parents and finished nov. 11, completing the course in 12 out Ings. Marchers must Complete the circuit within a year from the Day they Start in order to receive credit for the March. Since his first March in june 1984, just Days after the family arrived in Munich Conlon has logged 1,740 Kilometres on 93 Volks marches. And according to his mom Renate that does t reflect the amount he logs each morning on his Job As a stars and stripes Home delivery Carrier. Erbe Helm Beckon pm sur Virit conto it tit la a Type by 19
