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Show Review I " i "Roth's book a 'Dixon's' complaint " " w iiuntinn from Danish Our Gang Starring Tricky and His Friends by Philip Roth. Random House, New York, 1971. 200 pages $5.95. By KURT NUTTING Chronicle Staff Well, Philip Roth has written another novel, this one called Our Gang, and first of all let me make one thing perfectly clear: I liked it. Beyond that, however, I have mixed feelings. It's not as good as his last book, the 1969 sex epic Portnoy's Complaint, but in a very different way Our Gang is a very funny work. The story develops out of a statement made by Richard Nixon last April: "...Abortion on demand I cannot square with my personal belief in the sanctity of human life-including the life of the yet unborn. For, surely, the unborn have rights also. . " Using the "fictional" character of Trick E. Dixon, President of the United States, Roth contrasts this with his treatment of convicted twenty-two-time murderer William Calley. The rest of the outlandish plot detail Trick E. Dixon's cynical manipulations, including the shooting of three Boy Scouts and the invasion of Denmark; the book ends (after Tricky's assassination) with his campaign against Satan for Devil. Throughout much of this book Roth tends to lapse into rather unfair personal insults-Tricky's sweat glands on his upper lip, his secret strategy sessions held in full football regalia, his "crisis syndrome," his friendship with the Rev. "Billy Cupcake"-but the real point of the book is a comment about political rhetoric and the "political way of thinking. For example, the "Political Coach" warns a general in the strategy session that to "shoot two hundred million Americans-if that's what you have in mind-shoot mind-shoot one hundred million Americans, and I'm afraid you're going to give the Democrats just the kind of issue they can play politics with in the 72 election." And when Tricky orders the occupation of Elsinore, Denmark (Hamlet's Castle), he defends his move by saying that "the amphibious am-phibious landing by a detachment detach-ment of one thousand brave American Marines that did occur only a few hours ago, at midnight Danish time, was not an invasion of Danish territory, but the liberation from Danish domination of a landmark that has been sacred for centuries to English-speaking people around the world. . . If, however, Copenhagen should refuse to negotiate in good faith by giving us what we want, I shall immediately im-mediately order 100,000 armed American troops onto Danish soil." The point of this exercise, incidentally, is to force Denmark's Den-mark's Pro-Pornography government to repatriate baseball player Curt Flood to the U.S. on charges of undermining youth by filing a suit against organized baseball's reserve clause. He concludes this TV speech by saying: "My fellow Americans (here Tricky rises from his chair to sit on the edge of his desk), something is rotten in Denmark-let Denmark-let there be no mistake about it. And if it has now fallen to American boys to step in and eradicate the rottenness that Danish boys are unable to step in and eradicate, I know they will not hesitate to do so." While running for the Devil, he accuses Satan of collaboration with Cod on "the Job case," telling the Fallen "the time has come to stop appeasing the Cod of Peace." So, like I said, I enjoyed it. Roth has, I think, successfully captured Nixon's style of rhetoric on paper, even he h; exaggerated the dep, man. But he someho,! easy to imagine the -C face on the telew ' mouthing these p,,' things-which are f different only in preposterous things,! do hear him say. Nio: satirized often (he is easy target), but this i best jobs yet. May 1 1 easily-shocked, Nixonites, and the escapists to skip this |
