Characters

Is fiction good for us? We spend huge chunks of our lives immersed in novels, films, TV shows, and other forms of fiction. Some see this as a positive thing, arguing that made-up stories cultivate our mental and moral development. But others have argued that fiction is mentally and ethically corrosive. It's an ancient question: Does fiction build the morality of individuals and societies, or does it break it down? This controversy has been flaring up — sometimes literally, in the form of book burnings — ever since Plato tried to ban fiction from his ideal republic.

REAL ESTATES Gee, Comm. Ave., Brookline, Weston, Hingham, etc. are the "Top Spots to Live" (May 6). Wow, what a news flash. This is such an offensive article. So the Top Spots to Live are only available to about 2 percent of the population? The price of a home does not necessarily make a street a great place to live. I'm a Globe subscriber, but I do find the paper to be elitist at times and in this case downright clueless. Jim Daddona / Pepperell GLOUCESTER BECKONS Note to Billy Baker ( Perspective, May 6)

In "Where the Wild Things Are," the masterpiece among masterpieces of the late Maurice Sendak, the word that first summons magic is a simple "his": "The night Max wore his wolf suit and made mischief of one kind / and another," the opening pages read. Not " a wolf suit"; certainly not "the wolf suit his grandmother gave him for his birthday. " The wolf suit is a given. It already exists, and the story is already underway. This was Sendak's imaginative genius. In the wake of his death last week at age 83, the conventional thing to say about his work has been that it brought depth and...

Both boos and applause greeted Cristian Mungiu's latest film at Cannes — and that's fine with him. The Romanian director won the film festival's top prize in 2007 with abortion drama "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days," but he's had a more mixed reception this time around. "Beyond the Hills," in which love and faith collide with fateful inevitability, was inspired by the true 2005 case of a young woman who died during an attempted exorcism at a remote monastery. Some Cannes viewers failed to warm to the 2 ½-hour film's wintry setting and deliberate pace, or wished for more...

SOMERVILLE — The word “misfit’’ doesn’t begin to describe the wacky assortment of visitors to “The Hotel Nepenthe.’’ Award-winning actor and playwright John Kuntz treads just this side of “The Twilight Zone’’ with his newest play, a tale that includes a bloody murder, a fatal car crash, a mysterious hat box, and a missing baby. “The Hotel Nepenthe’’ is the second of three plays presented by Actors’ Shakespeare Project as part of the company’s Winter Festival, staged in an empty retail space in Davis Square the company calls “The Storefront.’’...

CAMBRIDGE — Eugene O’Neill embraces extremes, the more dramatic, the better. The beauty and brilliance of “A Moon for the Misbegotten’’ lies in his ability to craft a delicate balance between these extremes, and to show the heartache beneath his characters’ bluster. The play asks a great deal of actors: They must start out full-tilt and then peel back the layers of their characters, a challenge the Nora Theatre’s ensemble struggles with at first, then warms to for O’Neill’s extraordinarily transformative climax.

Anime Boston was still going strong on Sunday. The three-day anime extravaganza, which ran throughout the weekend at the Hynes Veterans Convention Center, brought out thousands of locals in memorable costumes, including MIT computer science undergraduate Kristof Erkiletian, who on Sunday afternoon, at least, was more robot than man.

We have certainly seen the characters in "Red Elm" before. The elderly lady playing solitaire. Her husband, getting lost in his memories. The son, trying to get his life in order while competing against the memory of his dead brother. The secretary, trying to do what's right without losing her job. Put them together in a Midwest dining room where the plastic rarely comes off the sofa and chair, and you have the makings of a drama that seems like familiar territory. Give credit, then, to writer Dan Hunter and a lovely production at Boston Playwrights'...

Indie Rock The Duke & The King Nothing Gold Can Stay Ramseur ESSENTIAL “Union Street’’ The Duke & the King play at Club Passim on Sunday at 8 p.m. Tickets are $15 at www.clubpassim.com. Fans of American lit know the Duke and the King as the conniving scoundrels from “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.’’ Fans of indie music will soon know the Duke & the King as the brilliant new pairing of Simone Felice and Robert Burke, whose “Nothing Gold Can Stay’’ is out next week just after their tour starts.

Joe Jackson once wondered who the real men are. He need look no further than the characters that populate his own extensive catalog to find them. Monday night at the Somerville Theatre a capacity crowd was introduced to men damaged by love, angry at the world, sanguine about aging, and confused about the way to Chinatown, among others. Some were old friends from the veteran British singer-songwriter's musical crazy quilt of a past, and others were new acquaintances from his sublime recent release, "Rain.

In "Where the Wild Things Are," the masterpiece among masterpieces of the late Maurice Sendak, the word that first summons magic is a simple "his": "The night Max wore his wolf suit and made mischief of one kind / and another," the opening pages read. Not " a wolf suit"; certainly not "the wolf suit his grandmother gave him for his birthday. " The wolf suit is a given. It already exists, and the story is already underway. This was Sendak's imaginative genius. In the wake of his death last week at age 83, the conventional thing to say about his work has been that it brought depth and...

Walt Disney Co. gained on the heels of the company's new movie "Marvel's The Avengers," which had record ticket sales of $200.3 million in the United States and Canada in its opening weekend. That topped the performance last year of Time Warner Inc.'s "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2. " The success represented a big win for Disney following the mega-flop "John Carter. " "This is definitely the kind of momentum that's going to carry over and ride the wave through summer," said one analyst.

For the third time, Larry Coen gets to act in a Tennessee Williams play that's seldom, if ever, been performed here. That's not something many actors can say, especially since the playwright died in 1983. "I am amazed at how much new Tennessee Williams we've had a chance to do here," Coen says. "The fact that there are still premieres coming out is extraordinary. " Coen plays Gutman in the Beau Jest Moving Theatre production of Williams's "Ten Blocks on the Camino Real," opening Thursday at Charlestown Working Theater.

George Lucas' sprawling "Star Wars" universe has always lent itself to games — even if they were as simple as pretend light saber duels in your backyard. "Kinect Star Wars" (LucasArts, for the Xbox 360, $49.99) is a light saber fan's dream title. Using Microsoft's Kinect camera, which translates your motions into on-screen activity, you start with training against floating droids shooting red rays. Eventually, you can challenge Darth Vader himself. It's a good upper-body workout, and you get the signature hum of the famous movie weapon.

"The Solitary House" (Delacorte Press), by Lynn Shepherd: The star of Lynn Shepherd's intriguing mystery novel is mid-century Victorian London, depicted in all its filthy glory and without a hint of the jolly charm that found its way into the tales of Charles Dickens. But then charm is hardly the point in "The Solitary House. " Shepherd artfully mixes a tale of murder with elements common to Dickens' writing, such as the prostitutes, rat catchers and other unfortunates who populate London's foul, gas-lighted streets and the powerful, selfish gentry who...

thinks Janoris Jenkins is this draft's Aaron Hernandez.

Both boos and applause greeted Cristian Mungiu's latest film at Cannes — and that's fine with him. The Romanian director won the film festival's top prize in 2007 with abortion drama "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days," but he's had a more mixed reception this time around. "Beyond the Hills," in which love and faith collide with fateful inevitability, was inspired by the true 2005 case of a young woman who died during an attempted exorcism at a remote monastery. Some Cannes viewers failed to warm to the 2 ½-hour film's wintry setting and deliberate pace, or wished for more...

Isabel Duncan and John Thigpen share a problem. Both are highly upstanding professionals whose desire to do good work in their chosen fields is thwarted by corporate interests, rocky romantic relationships, and ruthless colleagues. Isabel, a research scientist at the Great Ape Language Lab, is devoted to the well-being of the six bonobos in her care and confused by her fiance, Peter. John, a journalist struggling in a climate of shrinking newsroom budgets, wants nothing more than to write about the bonobos in a respectful way and to please his troubled wife, Amanda.

It's time again for the laugh riot known as Banned in Boston, the annual fund-raiser for the violence prevention and conflict resolution program Urban Improv. The musical comedy revue takes place Friday at the House of Blues, but organizers hosted a little dress rehearsal Monday with Senate hopeful Elizabeth Warren and Click and Clacker Ray Magliozzi. This year's line-up includes Aerosmith bassist Tom Hamilton, Governor Deval Patrick and wife Diane, Mayor Tom Menino, and many other familiar faces.

The bride may be the star of most weddings, but in Meredith Goldstein's debut novel, "The Singles," it's five unattached guests who get all the attention. Goldstein, a Globe reporter and Love Letters advice columnist, weaves their story lines together in an engrossing, funny, and sometimes tear-jerking story. "The Singles" follows Hannah, Vicki, Phil, Joe and Rob, the only guests to RSVP without a date to Bee Evans's spare-no-expense country club nuptials. Each of the "Singles" has his or her own relationship drama, and as the narrative unfolds, we learn...