THE RULES OF CHAOS

by Stephen Vizinczey ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 15, 1970

A series of essay fragments in an earnestly playful tone and a self-consciously free-floating style which apostrophizes the reader with informality and, on Vietnam, with indignation. The weakest parts elaborate the ""chaos"" theme, toying with questions about chance, predictability and human intention but never getting down to issues of probability. For a book which strains after apothegms its batting average is respectable (""We have less control over others and more power over ourselves than we like to think""). And it gains ballast from the sections on Stendhal, whom one is almost persuaded to reread, on Eugene McCarthy, whom he also adores (precisely because of McCarthy's unpremeditations), and on Styron. One may think he damns Nat Turner for the wrong reasons, e.g. allowing the slaveholders a degree of humanity, but it's a forceful piece. Though Vizinczey is the author of In Praise of Older Women (1966) here he relegates sex to the margins. His indeterminism, anti-rationalism, etc. aren't to be taken seriously: judged as a good-humored pastiche of three-a.m. epiphanies and typewriter-doodles, it's a mild and pleasant stimulant.

Pub Date: June 15, 1970

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: McCall

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1970

Categories: NONFICTION