Weekend Entertainment Guide

BOOKS . . . THE FLAMING CORSAGE: The Faulkner of upstate New York, William Kennedy again draws inspiration from of Albany in his new novel, 'The Flaming Corsage' (Viking; 209 pages; $23.95). Kennedy once described his hometown as an 'improbable city of political wizards, fearless ethnics, spectacular aristocrats, splendid nobodies, and underrated scoundrels.' "The aforementioned now rub elbows and knock heads in a novel that once more demonstrates the author's passion for place and his skill as a literary magician, says TIME's R.Z. Sheppard. "How else should one describe a writer who moves effortlessly through time and who can summon ghostly characters from previous books to play full-blooded roles in his latest work?" Readers familiar with Kennedy's earlier work in 'Ironweed' and 'Billy Phelan's Greatest Game' will remember Edward Daugherty. Forgotten and senile by the 1930's in 'Billy Phelan', Daugherty is shown at the height of his powers in 'The Flaming Corsage,' when his play of the same name scandalizes proper Albanians in 1912. "At just over 200 pages, 'The Flaming Corsage' contains more dramatic events, bright dialogue and strong characters than most novels twice its length," says Sheppard. "The generous spirit is best reflected by Daugherty's dying father, who jauntily toasts his own send-off with a growler of ale and an intimation of paradise that, he says, resembles the inside of a fireman's boot. "That1s not what heaven looks like," says his priest. "Then," replies the elder Daugherty, "I'm goin' someplace else." Fiction is full of men and women who can be larger than life. In his best novel so far, Kennedy gives us 'splendid nobodies' who are larger than death."

MUSIC . . . TO THE FAITHFUL DEPARTED: "One rarely watches a Congressional filibuster on C-Span and thinks -->