Before there were people sending tweets about the important developments of the day, there was witty repartee in European salons. We get a taste of such banter from Tolstoy’s “War and Peace.
Monthly Archives: February 2016
Panicked by Trump? Turn to Lit
As Trump panic starts to set in, pundits are turning to literature to get an understanding of how it has all happened. This past week saw references to “Oedipus,” “Frankenstein,” “War and Peace,” and “Slaughterhouse Five.”
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Donald Trump, Frankenstein, GOP, Kurt Vonnegut, Leo Tolstoy, Marco Rubio, Mary Shelley, Oedipus, Presidential politics, Slaughterhouse Five, Sophocles, War and Peace Comments closed
Raymond Carver & Trump’s Enablers
Raymond Carver’s chilling story “Why, Honey?” captures the dread inspired by the prospect of a Donald Trump presidency. It also captures the enabling behavior that led to Trump’s rise in the first place.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Donald Trump, electoral politics, GOP primaries, Raymond Carver, Why Honey Comments closed
History’s Zigzagging Narratives
This Stephen Dunn points out how we see history as a series of narratives. Sometimes our heroes are those “too unhappy to be reasonable.”
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged historical narrative, history, politics, Presidential Primaries, Stephen Dunn Comments closed
Clifton, Ellison Help Explain Whitesplaining
White politicians, if they want the Black vote, must be cautious about “whitesplaining.” Lucille Clifton gives us insight into the insensitivity in “note to self.” Brother Jack in “Invisible Man” is racially insensitive in this way and may have lessons for certain Bernie Sanders supporters.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "note to self", Bernie Sanders, Democratic primary, Hillary Clinton, Invisible Man, politics, Race, Ralph Ellison, whitesplaining Comments closed
Prospero and the Presidential Primaries
Think of Shakespeare’s “Tempest” as an allegory for the current state of American politics, especially the presidential primaries. It contains visionaries and cynics, orchestrators and disrupters. If Prospero is the island “establishment,” then he enjoys some success but it is qualified.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Bernie Sanders, Democratic primary, Donald Trump, GOP primary, Hillary Clinton, politics, Ted Cruz, Tempest, William Shakespeare Comments closed
Pullman vs. C. S. Lewis on the Issue of Sin
Philip Pullman loathes C. S. Lewis, despite the many similarities between “The Golden Compass” and the Narnia Chronicles. The reason may be the way handles sinning children.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged C. S. Lewis, Golden Compass, His Dark Materials, Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, Magician's Nephew, Narnia Chronicles, Philip Pullman, Sin, Voyage of the Dawn Treader Comments closed
To Enjoy Reading Is To Enjoy Instruction
David Foster Wallace, like Plato, Horace, and Sidney before him, wrestles with the dichotomy between reading for enjoyment and reading for instruction. But what if this is a false dichotomy.
