As Egypt, following the lead of Tunisia (see my post here), teeters on the verge of revolution, everyone seems to be looking to different historical pasts to predict the future. My former Carleton classmate Kai Bird fears that Barack Obama will repeat the mistakes that Jimmy Carter made with the Shaw of Iran but adds […]
Monthly Archives: January 2011
Kane: Sunny Pleasure Dome, Caves of Ice
Film Friday I’m teaching Citizen Kane currently in my American Film class and am struck, once again, by the influence that Coleridge’s “Kubla Khan” had on the movie. My father and I tried to make this case in an article that we wrote on Citizen Kane a number of years back (described here), and while the editors […]
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "Kubla Khan", Citizen Kane, Film, Orson Welles, Samuel Taylor Coleridge Comments closed
It’s the End of the Book as We Know It (and I Feel Fine)
I crossed the great divide this Christmas and bought my wife a Kindle e-book. I have to admit that convenience played a role in my decision. Does it make it any more excusable that the first book she downloaded was a classic (The Brothers Karamazov)? I didn’t think so. And here’s a problem I can report. […]
Living a Balanced Life, Gawain Style
In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, which I am about to start teaching, we learn that Gawain has a shield bearing a pentangle or five-pointed star. The star is the symbol of a balanced life, and we can continue to use it today. The Middle Ages loved numerology, and the poem details the significance […]
Lost Paradise Syndrome in Tucson
Spiritual Sunday As I teach Beowulf for the umpteenth time, I am struck once again by its beautiful rendition of the Genesis creation story. I’m also struck by how the invocation of that beauty calls forth human horror. Exploring the linkage provides some insight into the mass killings we have almost come to expect. The […]
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Beowulf, John Milton, Paradise Lost, Religion, Tucson killings, violence Comments closed
