cover image For Fidelity: How Intimacy and Commitment Enrich Our Lives

For Fidelity: How Intimacy and Commitment Enrich Our Lives

Catherine M. Wallace. Alfred A. Knopf, $22 (192pp) ISBN 978-0-375-40079-7

In this collection of essays, some of which were previously published as Episcopalian tracts, Wallace, a cultural critic based in Illinois, argues for monogamy as intrinsic to a happy marriage. Defining marriage as a committed union between two heterosexuals or homosexuals that may or may not be legally contracted, she argues that the fullest realization of sexuality takes place only within such a partnership. She bases her conception of fidelity on a Christian interpretation of morality as reflected in poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge's theory of the imagination and on scriptural passages from the Bible. According to Wallace, casual sexual encounters are ethically wrong because such encounters are mutually exploitative rather than reciprocal, and they denigrate the sexual experience as purely physical. She recommends that parents teach their children the value of fidelity by encouraging their moral development from an early age. This will be of interest primarily to those who share Wallace's philosophical and religious orientation. (Feb.)