Monthly Archives: November 2011

Paterno’s Rapist Associate and Mr. Hyde

By Robin Bates | Published: November 10, 2011

“Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” warns us that we are in danger of becoming monsters ourselves if we don’t hold on to our humanity when responding to monsters like alleged child molester Jerry Sandusky, close associate of Coach Joe Paterno.

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Love in the Time of Cauliflower

By Robin Bates | Published: November 9, 2011

The blog “Hairpin” came up with the a series of book titles which, altered slightly, becomes delicious food puns.

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Reading Too Much into a Lover’s Words

By Robin Bates | Published: November 8, 2011

A friend scrutinizing the language used in a conversation with her not-quite-boyfriend reminded me of the hypersensitive Faulkland in Richard Sheridan’s play “The Rivals.”

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A Spurned Lover’s Revenge Fantasy

By Robin Bates | Published: November 7, 2011

A recent Kinsey study reporting that men prefer cuddling and women prefer sex got me thinking about John Donne’s strange “you’ll be sorry” poem “The Apparition.”

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Wilt Thou Forgive My Sin of Fear?

By Robin Bates | Published: November 6, 2011

Donne’s last question is whether God will forgive Donne’s lack of complete faith in Him.

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It’s the Pictures that Got Small

By Robin Bates | Published: November 4, 2011

Watching movies at home makes them something other than movies.

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Cardinals’ Victory Invokes Mythos of Spring

By Robin Bates | Published: November 3, 2011

St. Louis’s improbable World Series victory corresponds to the mythos of comedy as described by Northrup Frye. Comedy’s improbably reversals symbolize the escape of life from the clutches of winter.

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Captain Ahab, a Tyrant for All Seasons

By Robin Bates | Published: November 2, 2011

Nathaniel Philbrick describes “Moby Dick” as a “metaphysical survival manual” which helps us understand the nature of tyrants.

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Qaddafi Died Like Macbeth, Richard III

By Robin Bates | Published: November 1, 2011

As Shakespeare understood with Macbeth and Richard III, narcissistic dictators like Qaddafi are so obsessed with control that they think they can stage manage their own deaths.

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