Monthly Archives: September 2009

Aspiring to Be a Dwarf

By Robin Bates | Published: September 4, 2009

Continuing the Lord of the Rings discussion, here’s an interesting insight passed on to me by my friend Rachel Kranz about my last entry.  I was interpreting my adolescent fondness for Gimli the dwarf as an indication that I felt myself a dwarf, hunkered down and plodding.  Rachel says that she was stunned by this self-description […]

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A Legendary Elf-Dwarf Friendship

By Robin Bates | Published: September 3, 2009

After a year’s sabbatical, I am resuming my duties, one of which includes being the advisor of the Tolkien Society. The group gathers regularly to hear talks, forge chain armor, attend masked balls (not that there are any masked balls in Lord of the Rings), and engage in other Medieval-related activities. I’ll mark the occasion […]

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Gathering to Discuss Novels

By Robin Bates | Published: September 2, 2009

Woman Reading,  by E. Johnson For several years now I have been moderating a library book club, an experience I will reflect upon today. We read mostly novels, often alternating between past and contemporary works. From the past we have read all of Jane Austen, Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre, Middlemarch, Silas Marner, Gulliver’s Travels, King Lear, […]

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Bawdy Poetry and Male Insecurity

By Robin Bates | Published: September 1, 2009

John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester  Once again the poetry of John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester, is proving to be a jolt to my students. I always start my course “Couples Comedy in the Restoration and 18th Century” with this 17th century libertine, and the poetry does not hold back. Rochester freely uses the “f” word, […]

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