Monthly Archives: November 2017

Dorian Gray Was Social Dynamite

Oscar Wilde’s accusers but him in jail, but they were right about one thing: “Picture of Dorian Gray” is social dynamite.

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Laura Ingalls Wilder, Trump Supporter

Laura Ingalls Wilder’s romance with the west turned dark during the Great Depression, anticipating many of today’s Trump voters.

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Literature That Caused a Commotion

I list my student Senior Seminar projects, which examine literary works that caused a stir and try to figure out why.

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Robert Mueller, the Eye of Sauron

Comedian Seth Meyers recently compared Robert Mueller’s gaze to the eye of Sauron. No wonder there is panic in the White House.

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Moliere and Religious Hypocrites

Moliere’s “Tartuffe” is a great satire of religious hypocrisy. It also shook up the 17th century French church in other ways and was banned.

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Shakespeare & Sexual Assault Politics

As he demonstrates in “Measure for Measure,” Shakespeare would understand the ins and outs of modern sexual assault politics.

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A Time for Laughter & Sharing of Pleasures

Kahlil Gibran’s “Friendship” makes for a great Thanksgiving poem.

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Note to Men: Face Your Inner Violence

To grapple with the fact of male sexual assault, it helps to have powerful literary explorations. Murakami provides one in “Kafka on the Shore.”

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Chaucer’s Solution for Sexual Assault

What are we to do about all of our sexual assaulters, given that they probably number in the thousands? Chaucer’s Wife of Bath has an answer.

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