Word: modernes
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...back to the fiction style of the 19th century. Enough of angst and ambiguity, of literary experiment. Bring on Trollope's nudging narrator and Dickens' moral confidence. The Hearts and Lives of Men -- surely a Victorian novelist would have come up with a livelier title -- is nonetheless set in modern times, specifically the fast-track London art world of the '60s and '70s. It covers 23 years in the lives of Clifford and Helen Wexford, an attractive, careless pair who marry, remarry, have messy affairs, manage to lose track of their little girl for a 14-year span -- and still...
...AIDS epidemic is a truly modern dilemma in which the political, ethical and scientific parts of the problem are not easily separated from one another. The different aspects of the disease have stirred enormous controversy and thought for more than four years now. Meanwhile the dying continues. To demonstrate concern for the victims and a desire to prevent an increase in their ranks, a responsible commentator on the disease must balance warnings with reassurances. Too little fear will lead to complacency; too much, to paranoia, quarantine and hatred...
Updike's letter of choice is "S", for sex. The switch reflects the irrelevance of sin in the modern world. Extramarital sex violates no norms, it's simply an act. The novel takes Sarah Worth out of a suburban sterility as arid as any Arizona desert and into a empty series of heterosexual and homosexual love affairs. We are even provided with an actual transcription of her first sexual encounter with the Ahrat, courtesy of a miniaturized tape recorder fastened to her breast. The endless repetition of these erotic adventures strips them of any moral aspect...
...their fate. Hester, despite knowing that her lover is weak and hypocritical, stands by him. She has nowhere else to go. For Sarah, her escape routes from a hypocritical marriage are seemingly limitless. But the Ahrat is no more emtionally or spiritually honest than Hester's Dimmesdale. As a modern woman, Sarah can always flee from deceit. The problem is that she can never find the truth, in part, because there is no truth to find...
...Black history and women's history are very similar in that some people still consider them unusual and new and not yet paradigms of historical study," says Assistant Professor of Afro-American Studies and History David W. Blight, who teaches courses on Reconstruction and modern Afro-American history. He says the newness of these fields leaves unresolved questions about what it is and is not appropriate to teach in the classroom...