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LOVE STINKS

By Lisa J. Curtis
The Brooklyn Paper

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Just in time to buoy the spirits of fellow holiday season grinches, Manhattan author Laura Kipnis will read from her book, "Against Love: A Polemic" at the Brooklyn Public Library’s Central Library on Saturday.

Kipnis is always provocative and often laugh-out-loud funny in her attempts to persuade the reader that love is a social construct and Americans have been brainwashed with disastrous consequences (skyrocketing divorce rates, infidelity, domestic abuse, etc.).

"Why bother to make marriage compulsory when informal compulsions work so well that even gays - once such paragons of unregulated sexuality, once so contemptuous of whitebread hetero lifestyles - are now demanding state regulation too?," writes Kipnis. "What about re-envisioning the form; rethinking the premises? What about insisting that social resources and privileges not be allocated on the basis of marital status? No, let’s demand regulation!"

Published in September in a new stocking-sized paperback by Vintage Books, Kipnis’ book is still large enough to ignite a large family conflagration. Giver beware.

Kipnis seamlessly weaves in loads of sources (note the five-page bibliography) to back up her controversial theme. Read cautiously - she might convince you, too.

Kipnis will read from her book at the Central Library’s second floor auditorium on Dec. 4 at 2 pm. (The Central Library is located at Grand Army Plaza.) For more information, call (718) 230-2100 or visit the Web site at www.brooklynpubliclibrary.org.

©2004 Community Newspaper Group


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