The United States at the moment is going through an eviction epidemic–which brings to mind a powerfully simple Lucille Clifton poem about an evicted family.
Monthly Archives: March 2016
Fantasy Lit Changes How We Behave
A fascinating conference essay on “The Fantasy Reader: An Empirical Sociological Approach” looked at the different ways that fantasy literature can tangibly impact our lives.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged cognitive narratology, Reader Response Theory, sociological approaches to literature, symbolic interactionism Comments closed
Dear Feast of Palms, of Flowers and Dew
Henry Vaughan’s “Palm Sunday” looks to palms, flowers, and palm-strewing children for Easter hope.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged East Week, Henry Vaughan, Henry Wordsworth, Intimations of Immortality, Palm Sunday Comments closed
If Trump Tweeted Classic Lit Reviews…
Donald Trump has a very distinctive twitter style., one that would be great for classic book reviews. A BuzzFeed writer imagines how he might have reviewed “Hamlet,” “Tristram Shandy,” “Ulysses,” and other classics.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Albert Camus, Donald Trump, Ernest Hemingway, Hamlet, J. R. R. Tolkien, James Joyce, Lawrence Sterne, Lord of the Rings, Stranger, Sun Also Rises, Tristram Shandy, Ulysses, William Shakespeare Comments closed
Will Plots vs. Trump Succeed?
“Beware the Ides of March,” the soothsayer tells Julius Caesar. On the Ides of March 2016, Marco Rubio received the unkindest cut from his home state of Florida. But if for perhaps a more apt application of the play, one should look at how members of the GOP establishment are hoping to stab Donald Trump at the July convention.
Savaging the Poor Left and Right
Supply-side economics has been ravaging the economies of such states as Kansas, Louisiana, and, to a lesser extent, Wisconsin. The GOP governors sound like the poor house’s Board of Directors in “Oliver Twist.”
Drama Shows Us a Way Out of Violence
New School philosophy professor Simon Critchley argues that theatre and the arts in general are vital in helping societies understand and moderate endemic violence. Aeschylus’s “Oresteia” and Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” are particularly important.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Aeschylus, Eumenides, Hamlet, Oresteia, theater, violence, William Shakespeare Comments closed
Stop and Smell Mary’s Perfume
The scene in John where Mary anoints Jesus’s feet with a costly perfume, Judas, who chastises her for wastefulness, reminds me of those earnest activists who can’t stop and smell the perfume. D. H. Lawrence explores a similar theme in “The Man Who Died.”
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged anointing of Jesus's feet, D. H. Lawrence, Jesus, Man Who Died, Mary, work ethic Comments closed
