The Public Burning | Techniques

The Public Burning Techniques

This is a critic's feast. Every second chapter is narrated by Nixon, and those told in an omniscient voice capture or parody a wide range of styles from popular culture and Time magazine (some Time accounts are set on the page as poetry) to variations on popular films and newspaper idioms. The book consists of four parts treating the two days leading up to the executions; each part consists of seven symmetrical chapters; a Prologue and Epilogue frame the parts, and they are separated by three operatic sections called "Intermezzo."

These intermezzos recall the dramatic origins of the novel. In one, Eisenhower's characteristic word distortion constitutes an aria on this incarnation's vision of the coming war with the Phantom. In the second, a recitative, Pris (Ethel) appeals to Pres (Eisenhower) for clemency on legal, moral, and humane grounds; in the final, a "Last Act Sing Sing Opera," Julius...
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