Dark Matters

by Paul M. Levitt

Book Overview

Set in the Southwest against the backdrop of McCarthyism, this novel combines the political and the love affairs of Ben Cohen, torn between a wealthy Kentucky belle and a New Mexico union organizer.... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0826330347
• ISBN13: 9780826330345
• Release Date: April 2004
• Publisher: University of New Mexico Press
• Length: 310 Pages
• Weight: 1.34 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

great writing

you would expect great writing from this author. you get it. and it is an accurate portrayal of the atmosphere on the CU campus as well as a great story. if a master of words is going to write only one novel, he should be very happy with this one.

A timely revisiting of McCarthyism

In the era of the probably unconstitutional, Orwellian-entitled "Patriot Act," Dark Matters examines class warfare and the suppression of civil liberties on several levels: social, political, and moral. Like most good novels, it explores the intersections of landed aristocrats with middle-class strivers, principally academics, as well as the exploitation of the working classes by management, and with compelling psychological insights and unexpected flashes of humor it presents an international cast of well differentiated characters espousing varying political beliefs. The principal constituencies of a public university are perceptively portrayed, from the toadying administration bending to the state legislature's will through academic politics among the faculty to the students coping with hypocritical parietal rules and issues such as abortion that remain timely and controversial. It candidly reveals the limited career possibilities for humanities graduates, such as working in a regional post office's dead letter department, and it captures the incipient sexual revolution of the mid-twentieth century. Structured as a universe of credible characters interacting in a realistic plot, Dark Matters is a serious, well crafted novel written by a full professor of English and writing, published by a neighboring state's university press. This work is highly suitable not only for all readers of substantive fiction but also for aspiring writers as a grounding in the traditions that must shape the flowering of their individual talents. For example, a character is described as having a "butterfly mind" because her conversation flits from topic to topic in an associative stream-of-thought pattern. As a gifted author should, Professor Levitt then illustrates this characteristic with a typical manifestation: "A guy and three gals sat down at the vacant table to my left. One of them, Brenda Oates, I knew from my Italian Renaissance history course. She always wore a butterfly pin on her right shoulder, and must have owned dozens of them because I never saw her wear the same one twice. The pin aptly corresponded to her butterfly mind. She flitted from one subject to another, talking in a stream of associations. "The fellow said: 'You'll never guess what I heard today. Some Negroes are forming their own fraternity. Christ, what next: hog maws and chitterlings on the school menu?' "Brenda took her cue. 'We used to have a Negro cook, Jemima, I never liked that name, you know. My favorite is Darlene. A cousin of mine had that name: Darlene Densmor. She acted in a movie. But she retired, you know. My dad says that as soon as he retires he's going to take me canoeing in Acadia State Park. That's in Canada. Did you know that they speak two languages up there? English and French. God, I really hate my French class! The other day, the other kids in that class laughed at me when the professor said he knew children this high' - she held her hand about two feet above th

Do yourself a favor: read this novel

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. It is funny, fluent, passionate, sad and contemporary. Dark Matters offers a hilarious and poignant look at four very different students attending college in the 1950s. They respond to controversy re: the forced signing of the loyalty oath, learning on a local level about the evils of McCarthyism and repressive politics. Of course, being college students, political affiliation is only one of their challenges: they also enjoy love, sex, religious debates, familial reminiscences. There are hilarious scenes in which at least one political radical attends a sorority party! From the local scene at University of Colorado, the students follow each other and their good intentions to New Mexico to support a mining strike. While fighting repression and exploitation on a state level, they learn more about themselves and each other. Finally, we follow the foursome through graduation (or not) and into adulthood. Each makes different choices, for better and for worse-and all are entwined as a result of their shared youthful passions. Marriages, children and jobs unfold with surprising twists and turns. Finally, more than a decade after college, the political stage shifts to international concerns: the reactionary regime that follows the overthrow of Dubcek in Czechoslovakia. We see the heartbreaking harvest of this regime and the terrible cost of resisting it. Throughout the novel, individuals respond to institutional disregard for personal freedom. I closed the novel feeling satisfied and uneasy: satisfied by a good read, including laughter, tenderness and sorrow as young students, more and less idealistic, tangle with the life and politics of their time; disturbed by the contemporary implications of our own choices as we encounter abuses of individual rights in our own societies. Read this book: you will have a wonderful time, learn some fascinating history, be challenged and uplifted.