Poe’s “Descent into the Maelstrom” describes the state of current GOP politics, where even moderate Republicans are being pulled into rightwing extremism.
Monthly Archives: September 2015
The GOP Descends into the Maelstrom
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Descent into the Maelstrom, Donald Trump, Edgar Allen Poe, GOP, GOP debates, Jeb Bush, John Kasich, Marco Rubio Comments closed
Live in the Layers, Not on the Litter
In a perfect poem for Yom Kippur, Stanley Kunitz urges us to look through the litter and wreckage of our lives and see instead “the layers.”
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "Layers", High Holy Days, Judaism, Stanley Kunitz, Yom Kippur Comments closed
Can Lit Help Build an Egalitarian World?
Neo-Marxist literary theory calls for us to see literature as relevant to building an egalitarian society.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Frederic Jameson, Gulliver's Travels, Jonathan Swift, Literary Theory, Literary Theory: An Introduction, Terry Eagleton Comments closed
The GOP Debate & the Ox-Frog Fable
Last night’s GOP debate often reminded me of the fable of the ox and the frog, with people trying to puff themselves up with hardline positions to impress voters. Here’s a Scott Bates version of the fable.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "Fable of theFrog and the Ox", Donald Trump, GOP debate, Jeb Bush, politics, Scott Bates Comments closed
Trump as the Duke of Bilgewater
Although a couple of recent articles have compared Donald Trump to Pap in “Huckleberry Finn,” I find him to be much more akin to the Duke and the Dauphin. Which is to say, an ace con artist.
Why We Love the Cat in the Hat
Dr. Seuss’s “Cat in the Hat” engages children the way Hollywood genre movies engage audiences–but offering titillating transgressive fantasies before hurriedly restoring order.
Theoretically, a Season for Everything
The soul, says Amichai Yehuda in this Rosh Hashanah poem, knows that, for everything there is a season. The body, on the other hand, gets the seasons all muddled up.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "A Man in His Life", Bible, Ecclesiastes, Rosh Hashanah, Yehuda Amichai Comments closed
Our Indispensable Matriarchs
May Sarton celebrates elderly matriarchs in her novel “Kinds of Love.” As I spend my sabbatical in my childhood home, I wonder whether we are seeing the last of such women.
