Friday, February 8, 2008

Fitz and Schul Defeat Sobriety and Bad Cinema: The Story of F. Scott Fitzgerald at Winter Carnival

The story of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1939 trip to Dartmouth for Winter Carnival is proverbial, even if the best known version has it simply that the novelist got very drunk in Hanover. Even this condensed form has appeal: the man of letters who does not uphold the supposed dignity of his profession is both comic and tragic. Yet an investigation of the Budd Schulberg papers, recently acquired by Dartmouth College Library, reveals a tale that, fleshed out, gains still more gravity and comic appeal.

Wright to Step Down in June 2009

In lieu of speculation, this is an opportune time to look back at what has led to the current situation, the circumstances of which are more than twenty-five years in the making.

Winter Carnival: The History

In 1939 a 37-foot snow statue of Eleazar Wheelock “toasted visitors with a fifteen gallon mug.”

TDR Interview: Harry Lewis

Yes, I taught Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg.

Everyone Hates Beta—Except AZD

And then... nothing. Alpha Xi Delta published a letter to clear up the misconception that this was an “AZD versus Beta” issue.

TDR Interview: Mona Kareem

The Dartmouth Review: How is America perceived in Kuwait?

A Time to Every Purpose

When Fermor asked a monk what living in a monastery was like; the monk paused to think for a moment, and then asked Fermor, “have you ever been in love?” Fermor said yes and then described “a large Fernandel smile spread across his face. ‘Eh bien,’ he said, ‘c’est exactement pareil...’” Living in a monastery is exactly like being in love.

Hockey Looking to Climb out of Cellar

Going into Winter Carnival Weekend the hockey team sits at 8-11-2, and a frightful 3-10-1 in the Eastern College Athletic Conference, putting the squad in the cellar of the conference. They will look to turn things around this weekend—both teams are in-conference foes—before coming home to face very good teams in both Quinnipiac and Princeton.

Basketball Season Roundup

Dartmouth’s basketball team has had a mediocre season so far, hovering around .500 since the beginning of play. Dartmouth finished non-Ivy League play 7-7 and is 1-3 in League play so far.

Deliverance

All of a sudden we were in the world of heavy-breathing conspiracy. There was just a whiff of Conrad’s The Secret Agent, Henry James’s The Princess Casamassima. And I was cast as Hyacinth Robinson, or maybe Stevie. Al Salzman, I noticed, was nowhere to be seen.

A Capacity for Wonder

Fitzgerald’s sensibility was related to the great Romantic poets, early Rupert Brooke but Keats especially, and also Wordsworth, in his ability to respond to and express the fleeting wonder of the moment, the transitory nature of beauty.

Ensler > Shakespeare

• I was pondering the other day, and suddenly it hit me all at once: Eve Ensler is the greatest playwright and artist who has ever lived. Period.

Last Word

If you strike a child, take care that you strike it in anger, even at risk of maiming it for life. A blow in cold blood neither can nor should be forgiven.
—George Bernard Shaw

Mixology: Stinger

2 jiggers brandy
1 jigger white crème de menthe
1 cup crushed ice or 4 whole ice cubes

Put all ingredients into a blender container. Cover and process on high for a few seconds. Strain into cocktail glasses.