Monthly Archives: November 2012

New York Experiences Chekhov Outbreak

By Robin Bates | Published: November 30, 2012

Chekhov’s enduring popularity speaks to our modern sense of being in transition.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Anton Chekhov | Comments closed

Students Persuaded by “Persuasion”

By Robin Bates | Published: November 29, 2012

College students continue to find Jane Austen’s “Persuasion” compelling.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Education, Jane Austen, Persuasion | Comments closed

Autumn’s Subterranean Mysteries

By Robin Bates | Published: November 28, 2012

Oliver’s “Fall Song” captures the “rich spiced residues” of autumn.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged "Fall Song", Autumn, Mary Oliver, Nature | Comments closed

Paranoid Postal Service Fantasies

By Robin Bates | Published: November 27, 2012

Pynchon’s “Crying of Lot 49” helps us understand rightwingers who want the USPS to fail.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Crying of Lot 49, Libertarianism, Thomas Pynchon, U.S. Postal Service | Comments closed

Good Men Are Hard to Find

By Robin Bates | Published: November 26, 2012

Hurricane Sandy bringing us together is like the killer in Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” spurring the grandmother’s epiphany.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Barack Obama, Chris Christie, Flannery O'Connor, Good Man Is Hard to Find, Hurricane Sandy | Comments closed

I Grasp God’s Garment in the Void

By Robin Bates | Published: November 25, 2012

For Denise Levertov, poetry and prayer run on parallel tracks.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged "Jacob's Ladder", "Pleasures", "Suspended", Dana Greene, Denise Levertov, Martin Buber, Spirituality, Tales of the Hasidim | Comments closed

Be of Stout Heart, Gridiron Greats

By Robin Bates | Published: November 24, 2012

Notre Dame’s return to football prominence brings to mind ther great programs from the past.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged "The Higher Education", Football, Franklin B Adams, Harvard, Princeton, Sports, Yale | Comments closed

Lincoln’s Reliance on Literature

By Robin Bates | Published: November 23, 2012

Spielberg’s “Lincoln” captures the president’s extensive reliance on literature.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Abraham Lincoln, Henry IV Part II, Shakespeare | Comments closed

All Which We Behold Is Full of Blessings

By Robin Bates | Published: November 22, 2012

Wordsworth’s “Tintern Abbey” provides us with passage that functions as a Thanksgiving poem.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Thanksgiving, Tintern Abbey, William Wordsworth | Comments closed