Word: reproach
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Solzhenitsyn retorted in his detailed statement that "for 29 years Vitkevich did not ever reproach me for my behavior at the investigation-but how convenient it is now to have him join the general chorus." The reliability of Vitkevich's belated accusations appeared questionable. Experts noted that handwritten notations were never permitted on the record of a prisoner's interrogations. Moreover, Soviet Leader Nikita Khrushchev ordered the destruction of the dossiers of all rehabilitated prisoners in the early 1950s...
...another: "As a taxpayer, I resent my tax money's being used to pay secret service men to accompany the Governor on his love trysts. Who was watching the shop while the Governor was pursuing his ladylove? I always thought any man who smokes a pipe was above reproach...
...many Americans it served as a reaffirmation of faith in a nation that had grown accustomed to self-reproach. After their long ordeal, the P.O.W.s had every reason to greet freedom ecstatically. But they had no need to offer profuse thanks to the country that had sent them to war. If they could so spontaneously pour out their love of country, then why should their fellow countrymen who had stayed home in safety and affluence be despairing? The return of the P.O.W.s was a tonic for America. "I just hope we can help America join closer together," says Air Force...
Such wordploy is the mark of the DeVries oeuvre, at once its most noticeable-and least significant-characteristic. For between the punch lines, DeVries shows himself as a lapsed Calvinist who sees the world as a reproach to that incurable hypocrite, man. Irony is DeVries' weapon, and this collection of fugitive pieces extends his gallery of not always humane inconsistencies. When a worker obeys a "Think" sign, he is dismissed for woolgathering. An executive boasts of an affair he was strong enough to resist. But after his wife's resulting diatribe, he is furtively making plans for consummation...
...rain, thunder and lightning, the most common lingering symptom among the survivors is the uneasiness-in some cases the near panic-that is brought on by stormy weather. Many residents also suffer from insomnia, crying spells, moodiness, and what has been called "survival guilt": unwarranted but painful self-reproach for having lived when others died...