Monthly Archives: December 2009

On the Logic of Having Babies

By Robin Bates | Published: December 7, 2009

In a recent post on her website, my wonderful daughter-in-law reflects on whether she and Darien will have children.  The reflection was occasioned by our Iowa Thanksgiving where she saw all of her husband’s cousins having children (and I mean all, the only exceptions being those who are in college or younger).  So Betsy compiles […]

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Moral Verse for Bad Little Children

By Robin Bates | Published: December 4, 2009

When I was a child, I was a great fan of the tongue-in-cheek “cautionary verses” of English poet Hilaire Belloc.  I have written in the past about how, in the Alice books, Lewis Carroll took off after those heavy-handed Victorian moralists who tried to scare children into good behavior.  Belloc did more of the same, […]

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Telling the Truth about War

By Robin Bates | Published: December 3, 2009

As the president addressed the nation Tuesday night about his decision to send more troops to Afghanistan, I found myself impressed with his seriousness and depressed over the situation. I know that he has no good options.  I can’t tell whether his decision is the right one. Literature, as I’ve periodically noted on this blog, […]

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“My Habits . . . Would Assassinate You”

By Robin Bates | Published: December 2, 2009

   As a change of pace, I turn today’s column over to my very good friend and department chair, Mark Twain expert Ben Click.  Ben is a 6’6″ Texan who is the funniest man I know and a kind of Mark Twain figure himself. His courses on the man who called himself “the American” have […]

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But What If Daddy’s Wrong about Him?

By Robin Bates | Published: December 1, 2009

Frances Burney   The fascinating conversations with my students about father-daughter relationships and Frances Burney’s Evelina continued yesterday.  The class had a range of reactions to how Evelina should respond when her guardian tells her to override her growing affection for Lord Orville. He has a number of reasons to be nervous.  Lord Orville (they both […]

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