PARTISAN REVIEW
127
The questiDn 'Of meanings is part 'Of the jDurney: "Our missiDn,"
says
Gunslinger, "is tD encDurage the Purity 'Of the Head/pray we dDn't lDse
track 'Of 'Our gDal." Dorn uses the language as well as the situations 'Of
the Western tD keep 'Our heads alert and curiDus. The Gunslinger speaks
from a knDwledge that we don't share. He perceives without poetry, may
be
a poem, and will nDt comprehend questions 'Of meaning or cause. Or
he may be a man 'Of absDlute ignorance. His speeches are directed frDm
some distance toward anDther distance, and like the narrator we try to
i?tercept meanings. But like him, we remain newcomers 'Overhearing a
tall tale told by insiders. These first books of
Gunslinger
make us careful
about meanings, scrupulous about the questiDns we ask. But there is
some danger that the pDem might becDme a too easy tour of American
confusions. At the end Cool Everything is guiding the poem, and it
nearly becDmes as superficial as he is. This is part 'Of the difficulty 'Of
a Hero whD can't risk "dDing" things that will define
him.
Perhaps the
narrator, at the end of Book II revived and ultimately stDned after
being embalmed with acid, will appear in a new role. We await more 'Of
this incisive and delightful play - gunplay, wordplay and hDrseplay. We
wait fDr
Gunslinger III,
more careful about how we see America, and
wiser in the use 'Of its distances.
Norman Martien
THE SCHOOL OF LETTERS
INDIANA UNIVERSITY
1972
Summer, Fall, and Spring CDurses
On the graduate level in the theDry and practice 'Of
Literary Criticism
Including wDrk tDward advanced degrees in
Criticism, English Literature, and CDmparative Literature
KIMON FRIAR
W. R. ROBINSON
1971 Summer Courses by:
NEWTON P. STALLKNECHT
EARL ROVIT
FRITZ SENN
Address inquiries 'On admissiDn and scholarships tD:
THE SCHOOL OF LETTERS
Indiana University
208 S. Indiana Avenue
BloDmington, Indiana 47401
