SOURCE: "George Garrett," in South Carolina Review, Vol. 9, No. 1, November, 1976, pp. 21-4.

In the following essay, Tillinghast analyzes Garrett's writing style and surveys several of his works, including The Magic Striptease.

Offhand observations often reveal truths about people and the times. When I was a child it was quite common to witness someone strolling along the street whistling a tune. No one whistles (or strolls) today.

Whistling is an unconscious gesture, usually a positive signal that everything is satisfactory. We all recognize, however, that there's little worth whistling about anymore. And each has his own way of handling this disheartening fact. Some refuse to confront, some maintain indifference, and some avoid despair by adopting the pitying, most damnable emotion, cynicism.

To me it is encouraging that someone who has the burden of seeing the truth in life so much more accurately than most of us, and feels it...