Word: heroism
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...genre has twin traditions: Great Bad Writing and Great Good Writing. In the Manichaean world of Great Bad Books, evil is always more compelling than heroism. Such works as John Buchan's The 39 Steps construct elaborate international conspiracies; Sax Rohmer's exemplary Fu Manchu series features a supervillain "with all the cruel cunning of an entire Eastern race . . . the Yellow Peril incarnate." From there it is only a bullet's journey to Ian Fleming's Doctor...
...wars illuminate enemies with human faces. The agent's mind is as balkanized as the lands he travels; betrayal becomes a way of life. The message no longer echoes national anthems but T.S. Eliot's Gerontion: "Think/ Neither fear nor courage saves us. Unnatural vices/ Are fathered by our heroism. Virtues/ Are forced upon us by our impudent crimes...
...Mitford--unlike, say, Lillian Hellman--does not bother with name-calling or invective. She simply states what the C.P. did, and what it felt like to be constantly under FBI and HUAC observation; individual party members become much more sympathetic characters through her witty description of both their heroism and their flaws...
...veneration and a proper recipient of private prayers)-the beginning of the long process to sainthood. In doing so the Pope set a precedent for the future judgment of possible saints by declaring: "Even the most simple works, performed with constant perfection in the midst of inevitable difficulties, spell heroism in any servant...
Priest Surplus. This path of humble heroism began when Neumann graduated from seminary in Prague but could not get ordained because there was a surplus of priests. He took a boat to New York City in 1836, hoping to be a missionary even though he had no assurance that there was a job for him. German-speaking priests were in short supply in America, and Neumann was quickly ordained and dispatched as a missionary to farmers around Buffalo. He later ministered in Pittsburgh, Baltimore and many other towns...