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Show - 2 2 4 - bowl on her lap, into xrhich she xas cracking walnuts for the holiday dish she planned to take to their daughter's house on Christmas Eve. They had talked enough about the events on the campus before the nexrscast that they had l i t t l e more to add, except to deplore the reckless statement made by the Governor. The Professor's thoughts had returned to his xrriting, which he would get back to in the morning. He had two notes, scribbled on the backs of envelopes, lying on the coffee table before him. He picked them up, hoping they xrould have as much meaning for him now as they had had xrhen he xrrote them hurriedly sometime l a s t xreek. The f i r s t notes, in pen on a small manila envelope, read: "Comedy: Man's r e l a t i o n to society. Tragedy: Man's relation to the unknoxm universe - to his own soul - his oxm being." Below i t he had written: "Primitive man xas very near tragedy in his relationship to the unknoxm, but when he created the f i r s t magician, he turned to comedy, as man generally must, to s t i l l his fears." Another note, on a separate sheet of scratchpad paper, dealt with the same subject: "Comedy protects man from the mystery of what he does not know. Tragedy confronts the mystery directly and usually fatally. Comedy leaves us believing that xre have some control over what we don't know - don't understand, and i t obviates the greatest fears. Tragedy shoxrs us xre have some control, but |
