One thing I appreciate about the New York Times is that many of its columnists routinely mention literature. Maureen Dowd probably does so the most (note this passing reference to T. S. Eliot’s Wasteland), and I once wrote a column on Roger Cohen’s use of The Great Gatsby in a piece on President Obama. (Cohen wrote […]
Monthly Archives: November 2010
Narnia, Much More than a Sermon
Jason Blake, my Ljubljana colleague, set off an interesting discussion two weeks ago when he wrote a post on on reading nonsense poetry to his daughter. Many readers wrote in about children’s literature, and at one point in the discussion Jason posted a poem by Robert Lewis Stevenson that made a number of us, with […]
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "Foreign Children", C. S. Lewis, Children's literature, Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, Religion, Robert Lewis Stevenson Comments closed
Gratitude, God’s Great Gift
Spiritual Sunday I have been teaching Paradise Lost this past week so, in the spirit of the Thanksgiving weekend, I share here some of Milton’s insights into gratitude. Let me start with the prayer of gratitude that Adam and Eve offer up to God in Book IV. They have been working in the garden […]
Michael Vick and the Scarlet Letter
Sports Saturday Quarterback Michael Vick of the Philadelphia Eagles continues to be the most interesting story in American sports. After spending two years in jail for participating in dog fighting, against all predictions he has emerged to become one of the most dynamic players in the National Football League. In the last three weeks he […]
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Football, Michael Vick, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Redemption, Scarlet Letter, Sin, Sports Comments closed
A Hysterical Response to a Masterpiece
Film Friday The film I write on today is one that has the resonance of great literature. It is also a film that affirms our humanity in the face of fear. Since too often we let fear set us against one another, it is good to look at a work of art that reminds us […]
Expressing Gratitude for Nature’s Feast
Thanksgiving may be my favorite holiday because it involves holding a feast in the face of on-coming winter. I read this as a sign that we believe the harvest bounty can carry us through the hard times. To accentuate the symbolism, I like my Thanksgivings to be cold and even a bit wet. Sir Gawain […]
The Burning of the Books
In Ben Click’s post yesterday on the banning history of Huckleberry Finn, he tells the story of a man who remembers hearing the book read to him when he was a child in a concentration camp. Horst Kruse never forgot that reading experience and would go on to become a Twain scholar. Ben talks about […]
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "Banning of the Books", Bertolt Brecht, book burning, censorship, Nazis Comments closed
Huck Finn’s Censorship History
I have always been fascinated by the many ways that literature influences our lives, but, as a literary scholar, I also know that influence is a very hard thing to prove. That’s why I find censorship to be interesting. When people censor a book, they do so because they assume that it can have an […]
For a Political Reality Check, Look to Dogs
What keeps cynical leaders from restructuring reality to suit their ends? Modern democracies have a number of institutions to keep us grounded in truth and principle. In times of stress, these can become the targets of extremist political movements. In America we have rightwing commentators and rightwing media (most notably Rush Limbaugh and Fox “News”) […]
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Dogs, Milan Kundera, politics, Unbearable Lightness of Being Comments closed
