In the wake of the ISIS attacks, France has something to fall back on: its proud literary tradition.
Monthly Archives: November 2015
When It Comes to Culture, Bet on France
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Albert Camus, Guillaume Apollinaire, ISIS, Jean Paul Sartre, John Oliver, Marcel Proust, Paris terror attacks, Victor Hugo Comments closed
ISIS Mastermind Like Mystery Cat Macavity
Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the mastermind behind the Paris attacks, is like Eliot’s “Macavity: the Mystery Cat.” He has been connected with a string of terrorist incident but is never captured.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "Macavity the Mystery Cat", ISIS, ISIS recruitment, Paris terror attacks, T. S. Eliot Comments closed
Can Poetry Respond Adequately to Evil?
Americans turned to Auden’s “September 1, 1939” following 9-11, and it can inspire and guide us following the Paris terror attacks.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "September 1 1939", ISIS, Paris terror attacks, W. H. Auden Comments closed
Love & the Red Fool-Fury of the Seine
Tennyson, responding to Paris massacres in the 1840s, asserts his faith in love and in social truth. Our challenge is to continue to believe this in the wake of the recent terror attacks.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Alfred Lord Tennyson, In Memoriam, Paris terror attacks, Terrorism, violence Comments closed
Dorothy and the Oklahoma Earthquakes
Oklahoma is now #1 in the world for number of earthquakes. “Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz” is also about a midwesterner encountering earthquakes for the first time.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz, earthquakes, fracking, L. Frank Baum, Oklahoma earthquakes Comments closed
A Cosmic Theory of Literature
My attempt at an overarching theory of literature and its place in human history and human progress.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand, Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, Sir Philip Sidney, Terence, Twelfth Night, Wayne Booth, William Shakespeare Comments closed
Soldier, I Wish You Well
Here’s an A.E. Housman poem to honor our men and women in uniform on Veterans Day.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "Street Sounds to the Soldiers' Tread", A. E. Housman, Military, Soldiers, Veterans Day Comments closed
Deaths in the White Middle Class
New studies report that middle class whites are dying younger, even though longevity for all other American demographic groups is rising. Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman” may help us understand why.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Angus Deaton, Arthur Miller, Death of a Salesman, Existential crisis, middle class white America Comments closed
