Background
Sterne, Richard Clark was born on June 6, 1927 in New York City. Son of Eugene and Ruth (Clark) Sterne.
(Focusing on European and American trial fiction since abo...)
Focusing on European and American trial fiction since about 1880, Dark Mirror argues that although it is generally animated by a sense of injustice, this literature reflects the virtual collapse in Western culture of the idea of a universal, or natural,ethical law. From the ancient Greeks to the Victorians, that idea, though powerfully contested by the notion that justice was simply the interest of the stronger,remained vigorously alive in books as in people's minds. It thus constituted an alternative to injustice which modern literature, whether its angle is religious, social, or absurdist, rarely presents. Sterne presents the argument that the tradition of natural law can be adapted to the present condition, a hypothesis that necessitates a view of an international community in which distributive as well as punitive justice is done. Creators of literature, who have so persuasively dramatized the corruptions, cruelties, and absurdities of our time, would then eb called upon to increasingly choose to imagine justways for us to emerge from chaos. Dark Mirror is the first study that combines, comprehensively, the treatment of the historical conflict between idealistic (natural law) and realisticor cynical approaches to the idea of justice.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0823215091/?tag=2022091-20
Sterne, Richard Clark was born on June 6, 1927 in New York City. Son of Eugene and Ruth (Clark) Sterne.
AB, Columbia College, 1947; Doctor of Philosophy, Harvard University, 1957.
Instructor social studies, North Carolina College Agriculture and Engineering, University North Carolina, Raleigh, 1948-1949; instructor English, Simmons College, Boston, 1952-1955; assistant professor, Simmons College, Boston, 1955-1963; associate professor, Simmons College, Boston, 1963-1968; coordinator American studies, Simmons College, Boston, 1967-1994; Professor of English, Simmons College, Boston, since 1968. Lecturer English Northeastern U., Boston, 1957, 62, Harvard University Extension, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1963-1964. Seminar leader, consultant Humanities and the Professions Program, Brandeis U., Waltham, Massachusetts, since 1981.
(Focusing on European and American trial fiction since abo...)
Past chairman Newton (Massachusetts) PAX. Member Boston 200 Task Force on Literature, 1974-1975. With United States Naval Reserve, 1945-1946.
Member American Association of University Professors, American Studies Association, American Legal Studies Association, American Culture Association, Phi Beta Kappa.
Married Ruth Cecile Winer. Children: Lawrence Samuel, Daniel Aaron.