The Indianapolis News from Indianapolis, Indiana • 48

44 it IT Sartre Play Defined Opposite Of Heaven Book 4r3 Lines TTn flfflttlTi 1 1 Douglas Hofstadter teaches a computer class at I.U. Hofstadter Doesn't Plan Sequel To Pulitzer Book ul Beit Sellers In City, Nation From Indianapolis Bookstores Fiction 1. "The Bourne Identity," by Robert Ludlum. 2. "The Devil's Alternative," by Frederick Forsyth.

3. "Portraits," by Cynthia Freeman. 4. "Princess Daisy," by Judith Krantz. 5.

"The Bleeding Heart," by Marilyn French. Nonfiction 1. "Free to Choose," by Milton Friedman. 2. "Donahue," by Phil Donahue.

3. "The Brethren: Inside the Supreme Court," by Bob Woodward and Scott Armstrong. 4. "On A Clear Day You Can See General Motors," by J. Patrick Wright.

5. "All You Need to Know About the IRS." by Paul Strassels. From Waldenbooks For UPI Fiction 1. "The Bourne Identity," by Robert Ludlum. 2.

"No Love Lost," by Helen Van Slyke. 3. "Princess Daisy," by Judith Krantz. 4. "The Devil's Alternative," by Frederick Forsyth.

5. "Portraits," by Cynthia Freeman. Nonfiction 1. "All You Need to Know About the IRS," by Paul Strassels. 2.

"Jim Fixx's Second Book of Running," by Jim Fixx. 3. "How to Become Financially Independent by Investing in Real Estate," by Albert L. Lowry. 4.

"The Third Wave," by Alvin Toffler. 5. "Free to Choose," by Milton Friedman. By HERBERT KENNEY JR. The death of Jean-Paul Sartre this week leaves a void in the world of philosophical writers whose ideas helped shape the modes of thought of this century.

The French writer probably had only a small following in this country, no doubt because of his popularization of existentialist philosophy, which has been defined as a philosophy of despair. America likes to think that everything is coming up roses. But his espousal of existentialism which says that a person is what he does and therefore is responsible only to himself, to his fellowmen, not to an outside god failed to win him a place in the public mind. This philosophy, Sartre hoped against hope, would guide the world's thinkers along a middle road between Christianity and Communism. Instead, he found his philosophy condemned both by the Catholic Church and by the communists.

Unfortunately, his hopes were dashed because the very people he wanted to appeal to the working class closed their ears to him. He did achieve a following, mostly in France, of students who seemed to think that existentialism had something to do with politics. The middle class rejected him, although he tried to woo it through his adherence to Communism. He believed that "existence precedes essence and that man came into being before there was any concept or reason for his being." Sartre was not one of your ivory-tower philosophers. He put his belief of "action" into practice during World War when he served in the resistance movement.

It was during that war that his best-known play, "No Exit," was produced. It was about three people trapped in a "hell-on-earth" relationship. The final line, uttered by one of the characters, has become a classic that expresses the ultimate sardonic Sartre belief: "Hell is other people." Sartre's existentialism had its basis in the philosophical writings of a Dane, Soren Kierkegaard, and a German, Martin Heidegger. He was a precursor, of sorts, of the theater of the absurd and its nihilistic offshoots. Montani Poems The scion of an Indianapolis family of grocers has written a book of poems that reflect the years he has spent in the city.

He is John Montani, member of a family that has been associated with the grocery business here since 1884. Many of the poems in the volume, "Poems by Giovanni," first appeared in The News under the author's pen name, Giovanni. Now retired, he is devoting more time to his second interest, writing. There are such topical poems as "City Market," "The 500-Mile Race." and a tribute to the Marott Hotel. Also saluted is the author's father, a musician who was instrumental in founding a symphonic predecessor to the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra.

Copies of the book of poems are on sale at bookstores operated by B. Dal-ton, Ober, Ayres and Walden. More Poetry A spring poetry festival will be cele-' brated for three days starting May 2 at the Athenaeum. The Free University Writers Center is the sponsor. John Woods, a Martinsville native, will be the featured writer at the festival.

He has published 11 books of poetry Other writers who will appear include: Roger Mitchell, poet and editor of the Minnesota Review. Caroline Richards, author of "Sweet Country" and professor at Earlham College. Roger Pfingston, Bloomlogton poet and photographer and author of the newly published "Hazards of Photography" Robert McDowell, writer-la-residence at Indiana State University-Evansville. Sadie Strikes Up One Match After Another SADIE SHAPIRO, MATCHMAKER." By Robert Kimmel Smith. New York: Simon Schuster.

$9.95. By LIZ BROWN An old friend's legacy to Sadie Shapiro turns into a dilemma for the dynamo of the "gray power" set. Sadie inherits a small metal tea box containing three index cards and a plea: "Don't leave my life's work unfinished. Please find mates for these people." And what a bunch they are: A Park Avenue widow, a Brooklyn fruit and vegetable dealer and a young feminist sculptor who doesn't want to get married. Sadie, who first made herself known in "Sadie Shapiro's Knitting Book" (a light novel, not a how-to-knit book), puts her heart, soul and mixed-up vocabulary to work as matchmaker pro tern.

For those who have never met Sadie, a lot of her charm comes from her mixed metaphors: "A lot of peas in the pond fat as a fiddler and good as new a Rosen by any other name (Norm Crosby, watch out!) An evening spent with Sadie will be heartwarming. fact, the only paper used in producing the book in its final form was a computer print-out! Hoftsadter's research has led him to study the electrical and chemical reactions of the brain, and to retain the conclusion there is a difference between "the soul and chemistry." "Computer science has some light to shed on that explanation, and is starting to yield a vocabulary in which we can think about these things. In a computer science explanation of the mind, Godel theorem makes sense," he said. At Stanford next year he will pursue artificial intelligence in a narrow domain, trying to provide an esthetic sense to the computer through the design of type. He expects to give the computer an alphabetic character and have it design a complete alphabet.

Hofstadter said that although Stanford is far better for computer research than I.U., both in facilities and in institutional attitude, he is entertaining no ideas of not returning to Blooming-ton. I.U. is on the verge of getting a computer solely for use by the computer science department, he said. With a $250,000 grant from the National Science Foundation, Hofstadter said, the complexion of the department is about to change radically. "I am very fond of Bloomington.

It has been a kind place to me, and it would be a terrible thing to think of leaving," Hofstadter said. Bill Pittman First Novel Not Weighty, But Delight "TOMORROWS SILENCE." By Nicholas Goiter. New York: St. Martin's Press. flO.

By SHIRLEY ROBERTS In his first novel, Nicholas Goller describes a typical English family that becomes involved in high crime. The father is a touchy mathematician, the mother a teacher with a passion for canals. Daughter Kathy, 15, is amazingly normal. To make ends meet, the family takes in a lodger, with whom Kathy promptly falls in love. On the fringes of the family's life some murders occur, and the situation grows uneasy.

The reader's suspicion falls first on one character, then another. But the mystery is almost a sidelight to this story. Goller deals humorously with his characters, making parodies of some of them, realistic humans of others. "Tomorrow's Silence" may not be the weightiest first novel ever written, but it's a good evening's reading. Tht Mtwt IndlaM-BloomiiifftMi urM BLOOMINGTON, Ind.

Readers should not hold their breath while waiting for a sequel to Douglas R. Hofstad-ter's Pulitzer Prize winning book, "Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid." He said in an interview he is not working on another book. Hofstadter, 35, was named Tuesday as the Pulitzer winner for non-fiction. Last week he and six other Indiana University faculty members were named as recipients of coveted Guggenheim Fellowships. He has barely touched earth this week.

An assistant professor of computer science at I.U., Hofstadter is deep into an investigation of artificial intelligence and will pursue research into that subject next year at Stanford University under the fellowship award. "I have no other book in mind, at least not in the same sense as 'Godel, Escher, he said. "A couple of colleagues and I are thinking of a collection on the mind and the brain, but nothing really is happening." The Pulitzer Prize winning book was published last May 4, but has been available since last March, Hofstadter said. It has found an audience of 57,000 so far, which is enormous for a non-fiction book that is essentially philosophical. "I have heard from a number of readers," Hofstadter said.

"One of the earliest to write' was Jim Shiley, a filling station attendant in Oskaloosa, Iowa. In his spare time he does a lot of reading, and he was fascinated with the word play in my book. We have carried on a pretty good correspondence," Hofstadter said. "I have heard from a psychologist in California who writes vividly, and I have had letters from a number of computer science and math people. They see what they like in the book, and write me about it," he said.

"Godel, Escher, Bach," sprang from a theorem by the Austrian mathematician Kurt Godel demonstrating that intricate mathematical systems can talk about themselves in undecidable statements. "It is like the classic paradox, 'This sentence is which undermines its own validity. It is a philosophically exciting idea," Hofstadter said. "You can't prove it is true, but if you can't prove it is true, you can't prove it to be false, either." From that kind of philosophical conundrum, Hofstadter made the jump to the illusive drawings of Escher and the intricate melodies of Johann Sebastian Bach. Among other things, the prize-winning book was not produced through the usual process of writing in longhand, or on a typewriter or by dictating.

It was "written" on a computer terminal, which also produced some of the illustrations used in the text. In CARMICHAEL 1990 I A Timet Synd STATE UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE ANp NoW A Word FROM MV ALTERNATE 0FFI III. I 1 I I MI ii 1 LIcLI aTs ft 1 lis 't mi Ul I fir ft HiQluG '3 1 I fe. et sV IT a I aTT akj.