Spiritual Sunday I know George MacDonald as the author of various fantasy novels but didn’t realize that he also wrote poetry. Here’s a lovely sonnet about looking for God after suffering a crisis of faith. The poet doesn’t find his “friend” when he searches in the wilderness or in cities, in cathedrals or in charnel houses, […]
Monthly Archives: February 2017
With Many Tears I Went in Search of HIm
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "Lost and Found", George MacDonald, Searching for God Comments closed
Chaucer’s Wife, an Early Gaslighter
Donald Trump’s non-ending falsehoods have sometimes been described as “gaslighting,” after the old Charles Boyer-Ingrid Bergman film. An early literary example of a gaslighter is Chaucer’s Wife of Bath, although her use of the tactic is far more justifiable.
Trump’s Faustian Emptiness
Donald Trump has a lot in common with Doctor Faustus: both are narcissists who create hells for themselves by being unable to reach out beyond themselves.
How to Make All Your Fantasies Come True
In high school I learned, from Jacques Offenbach’s opera “Tales of Hoffman,” how to make all my sexual fantasies come true. It took several decades of married life to fully embrace his insight.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Christopher Marlowe, Doctor Faustus, E. T. A. Hoffman, Jacques Offenbach, romantic love, Tales of Hoffman Comments closed
Hughes Dreams the Real American Dream
Langston Hughes’s “Let America Be America Again” is a powerful riposte to President Steven Bannon and Co.’s “Make America Great Again.” Poems like this one can play an important role in resistance against the Trump administration.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "Let America Be America Again", Donald Trump, Langston Hughes, Make America Great Again, Michael Anton, racism, Steve Bannon, Trumpist, white nationalism Comments closed
Suffering and God’s Apparent Silence
Susaku Endo’s great novel “Silence” wrestles with the seeming silence of God in the face of humanity’s suffering. A missionary priest in 17th century Japan struggles with his doubts as he witnesses the torture of Christians. In the end, it takes his own betrayal of his mission for him to grasp the meaning of Christ’s sacrifice.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "Silence", Japan, missionaries, missionary work, Shusaku Endo Comments closed
Humiliation, a Lit Department Game
David Lodge describes a game in “Changing Places” that English departments might enjoy: Humiliation. Check out the rules here.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Campus novels, canon, Changing Places, David Lodge, English departments Comments closed
Poetry & the Sea Liberate the Imprisoned
For Pablo Neruda’s, the “poet’s obligation” is to speak for freedom–which makes poetry vital important in our time.
