Ulrike Kriener on "Modern Love Stories..." What distinguishes them from old stories about love? In the past, men and women were restricted in their choice of partners. Connections were arranged. The meetings of lovers were secret, and love messengers brought longed-for letters to the impatient waiters. And today, in the age of "anything goes," where all forms of love are possible and allowed? And where TV, internet, and mobile phones make retreating into the private, into the personal, increasingly difficult? What has changed in the ideas about love? Of course, secret meetings have been replaced by "dates" at the bistro on the corner. But have people changed? I don't believe so. The stories I read describe men and women who are insecure, cautious, hesitant, self-observing, and with irony and humor, still and again in search of that great, overwhelming, clear feeling in which all doubts are resolved.