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Lädt ... The Normal Heart and the Destiny of Mevon Larry Kramer
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The Normal Heart, set during the early years of the AIDS epidemic, is the impassioned indictment of a society that allowed the plague to happen, a moving denunciation of the ignorance and fear that helped kill an entire generation. It has been produced and taught all over the world. Its companion play, The Destiny of Me, is the stirring story of an AIDS activist forced to put his life in the hands of the very doctor he has been denouncing. Keine Bibliotheksbeschreibungen gefunden. |
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Google Books — Lädt ... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)812.54Literature English (North America) American drama 20th CenturyKlassifikation der Library of Congress [LCC] (USA)BewertungDurchschnitt:
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In this work, Ned Weeks, the main protagonist, symbolizes Kramer’s work in the gay community. Ned is a writer who organizes to bring the AIDS agenda to the public’s mind. He shines a light on the hypocrisy of how few resources and publicity are devoted to this epidemic when compared to other recent healthcare scares (like the 1982 Tylenol crisis). Though his organizing efforts are successful, he is pushed out of leadership because he is seen as too radical. Ned simply advocates that the value of life amidst disease should trump any freedoms.
The characters in the play are based on historical figures in Kramer’s life experiences. There is love. There is death. The characters stand out. Ever-moving, they humanize the conflicting cultural forces at play. In 2011, HBO filmed this play and put it on the television. This film version even won kudos from then-president Obama. If you prefer to see plays instead of read them, this film is still available for rental.
It is simultaneously an engaging play and a piece of history. Kramer went on to continue to organize his advocacy and won hard-fought recognition of the AIDS crisis. (Remember, Reagan famously didn’t utter the word “AIDS” until the seventh year of his presidency.) He wrote a follow-up play The Destiny of Me which also won awards. The AIDS epidemic still rages globally despite vaccine and pharmacological efforts. The gay community has continued to win hard-fought rights and acceptance into wider American society.
The play closes on a moving note. It calls us to remember our common humanity amidst crisis – something too easy to forget. I write this review in the midst of another pandemic, and many of the lessons of the AIDS pandemic have been forgotten today. We still attack each other because masks – gasp! – are too restrictive to save human lives. As with Ned, people are pushed away for advocating sane public health measures. We cannot and should not forget the last scene in this book, for it repeats itself in our present history. Likewise, we cannot and should not forget the lives of a marginalized group targeted by biologic agents, for one day, it might be all of us. All this to say, this play has broad relevance to present readers, not just the LGBTQ+ community. ( )