Word: virtuouse
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Brookner re-creates the world of the immigrant high bourgeoisie with convincing selectivity. Its style and manners are indistinguishably British, with only a hint that the Dorns, apparently Jewish, belong to a community within a community. The characters are defined largely through their social behavior. Sofka: "A shy woman, virtuous and retiring, caring only for her % children, but determined to fulfil her role as duenna, as figurehead, as matriarch. This means presentation, panache, purpose and, in their train, dignity and responsibility; awesome concepts, borne permanently in mind." Alfred: "If he translates his predicament into fiction, if he views...
...those wise enough never to have read Love's Labour's Lost, behold Shakespeare's least complicated plot: King Ferdinand of Navarre (Thomas Derrah) has secluded himself in a private retreat, where for three years he has vowed he and his three attendants shall lead a virtuous life (sans dames). But love will find a way, this time from a visit of state by the beauteous Princess of France (Cherry Jones) and her ladies-in-waiting. Quicker than you can say "voulez-vous coucher avec moi" the king and his nobleman have discarded their celibacy like last year's underwear...
...some ways, still raises--were endless. Were the Americans acting as idealists, honoring a treaty commitment to an ally and defending freedom against Communist aggression? Or were they anti-Communist crusaders who committed atrocities against a land of peasants? Were the North Vietnamese under Ho Chi Minh austere and virtuous folk heroes, or murderous, Stalinist totalitarians who committed barbarities far worse than those of the Americans and South Vietnamese? Was Southeast Asia a line of dominoes waiting to fall, one after another, before the sinister push of Communism? Or was the region a complexity of nationalities, all different, with mutual...
...keep the Father on the straight and narrow. Played with great enthusiasm by Louise Latham. Margaret is as eminently predictable as the other characters, but at least succeeds in engaging our attention; dishing out mashed potatoes with the air of a martyr, she is the very image of virtuous spinsterhood--faithful, honest, and pitifully boring...
...sides, partisans are waging the battle with nearly religious intensity. The free-market fervor of the Administration's supporters is matched by the devotion of many of its critics to the medium-size family farm, not just as an economic interest but as the foundation of a clean and virtuous way of life that must be protected. Says Grassley: "It's almost a public utilitarian value to maintain the family farm. It's basic to the humanitarian responsibility of Government...