Word: hysteria
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...learns nothing about real history from these paintings. Outside the gilt frames, hysteria and massacre ruled. France was continuously at war for most of Watteau's life. In the winter of 1709, men ate corpses in the streets of Paris; the French economy was wrecked by a wave of delirious speculation whipped up by a Scottish financier, John Law. But on canvas, the Cytherean games never end. Men need paradises, however fictive, in times of trouble, and art is a poor conductor of historical events. One thinks of the impressionists constructing their scenes of pleasure through the days...
...possible, of course, that something closer to hysteria than history is unfolding. The U.S., after all, is far behind other countries that have actually elected women to their highest government offices. There are or have been female Prime Ministers of Britain, India, Israel and Sri Lanka; although they may have served as useful role models, the fact of their gender did not do much to end war or poverty in their countries or to introduce new levels of compassion to their governments. "Once the hoopla is over," says Pennsylvania's Joan Specter, "it will be back to business...
...beauty of the book comes from Updike's evocation of growth, metamorphosis, and decay. The most vivid moments portray the possibilities of an apparently depthless sadness; one sometimes feels that Updike, shorn of his religious convictions, would be capable of an analysis of or depiction of true hysteria. Analysis has connected hysteria to femininity and to certain forms of religious conviction; one wishes that Updike would explore such connections, rather than spending his time describing the details of sexual intercourse. In the manner of a writer of farce, he shuns depth to go for laughs instead. One suspects...
...voice a commitment to vigorously deterring harassment and punishing actual transgressions, but such protestations cannot dispel the cynicism engendered by remarks from male professors ridiculing the idea of sexual harassment for example, a professor's remark, as reported in the survey that harassment was only the product of "feminine hysteria." Bold measures are needed to combat such myopia. Sadly enough, however, when hold measures were proposed this year--for instance to establish a central harassment office--the courage of the Faculty evaporated...
...uneasy. Director James Brooks, making his first film,, derailed MacLaine just before shooting started by informing her, after two years of having her develop the character as a Texan with a thick Southern accent, that Aurora was instead a native of Boston. Says MacLaine: "I went into mild hysteria. That one change meant she would have to have a different makeup, a different wardrobe. I asked questions about Aurora's history that were never answered." Adds MacLaine, with a hit of affection: "No one would call Jim soft." Brooks says, "Whenever you talk about someone special, you get into...