FIDELITIES: A Book of Stories by...

FIDELITIES: A Book of Stories by Richard Hall (Penguin: $11: 278 pp.). These polished short stories chronicle gay life in New York City before and during the era of AIDS. In “Country People,” the author presents a gentle, eerie metaphor for the search for a sense of history. Reflecting on previous generations of gay men and lesbians, the narrator concludes, “ They died of the plague , I thought, and the plague was ignorance . Maybe that was the worst of all, because it brings darkness to a living soul.” Hall’s prose displays a rare polish, and his accounts of ordinary and exceptional lives unfold in graceful cadences. Inevitably, the shadow of AIDS darkens many stories, as he explores the emotions of people who struggle against the disease, and the lovers and friends who support them. Unfortunately, Hall drew on personal experience for these accounts: He succumbed to the virus in October, 1992.