Monthly Archives: January 2017

Obama’s Problematic Allusion to Atticus

By Robin Bates | Published: January 12, 2017

In his farewell speech, Obama quoted Atticus Finch in “To Kill a Mockingbird.” In light of the white backlash against having had a black president, however, the Atticus Finch of “Go Set a Watchman comes to mind, making Obama’s allusion seem a bit weak.

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Aristotle Changed the Way Europe Thought

By Robin Bates | Published: January 11, 2017

In “Aristotle’s Children,” Richard Rubenstein gets us to rethink the Faith-Reason and Religion-Science splits. When Aristotle revolutionized the High Middle Ages, Church leaders and thinkers tried to reconcile the tensions. Knowing this has me rethinking Marlowe, Shakespeare, and Donne.

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Obama Calls Upon Us To Be Wiglaf

By Robin Bates | Published: January 10, 2017

Putting the president’s farewell address last night in terms of Beowulf, Obama was calling upon us to be Wiglaf. Wiglaf is Beowulf’s nephew who, after having lived a comfortable life during Beowulf’s reign, realizes that Beowulf can’t solve all his problems. He must step up himself to save the country from the dragon.

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Lit As a Framework for Exploring Death

By Robin Bates | Published: January 9, 2017

Paul Kalinithi turned to existential writers as he attempted to understand the fact that he was dying. He arrived at a more spiritual understanding than he anticipated.

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Reading Lit To Find the Meaning of Life

By Robin Bates | Published: January 8, 2017

Paul Kalinithi moves between neuroscience and literature as he tries to understand the meaning of life and death, including his own terminal disease.

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The Epiphany from a Camel’s Point of View

By Robin Bates | Published: January 7, 2017

In a very engaging poem, Scott Bates tells the story of the Epiphany from the point of view of the came of one of the Wise Men.

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Personal News: A 2018 Retirement

By Robin Bates | Published: January 5, 2017

In June 2018, after 38 years of teaching college, I will retire. I don’t want to go out like Walter Savage Landor’s old man–“the fire is low

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The “Buried Giant” of Fascism Stirs

By Robin Bates | Published: January 4, 2017

Kazuo Ishiguro’s fantasy novel “The Buried Giant” works as a fairy tale parable of the shakiness of the European Union and the rise of rightwing parties.

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Morrison: Where America Went Wrong

By Robin Bates | Published: January 3, 2017

Toni Morrison’s 2008 novel “A Mercy” seems to start with a promising vision of America before everything goes wrong. It’s as though she starts with the optimism of the Obama years and then predicts the Trump backlash.

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