Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson’s favorite book to recommend is not a book of science but Jonathan Swift’s “Gulliver’s Travels.” This shows him to be a very wise man.
Monthly Archives: March 2017
Gulliver, Recommended for Scientists
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Gulliver's Travels, immortality, Jonathan Swift, living forever, Science, scientists Comments closed
Freikorps Fantasies and Trump’s Policies
David Brooks of “The New York Times” wonders whether Donald Trump’s policy preferences all come down to a preference for masculine hard over feminine soft. Klaus Theweleit’s study of fascist fantasies in the 1920’s describes such tendencies.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged emasculation anxieties, Fascism, fascist fantasies, Freikorps, Klaus Theweleit, male fantasies, misogyny Comments closed
Milton Understood Ambitious Con Men
A recent “Atlantic” article argues that Milton’s Satan is quintessentially American, with the archangel as both rugged individualist and honey-tongued con man. Sounds a lot like our current president.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Donald Trump, John Milton, Paradise Lost, William Blake Comments closed
Finding Freedom in Masquerade
Looking for sexual freedom in a rigid confines of the marriage plot, 18th century playwrights Susanna Centlivre and Hannah Cowley turned to the masquerade motif.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Belle's Stratagem, Busybody, Hannah Cowley, Marriage Plot, patriarchy, quest plot, Sexism, sexual desire, Susanna Centlivre Comments closed
Fantasy, a Portal to the Numinous
People are often drawn to fantasy in our post-Enlightenment world because they hunger for the numinous.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "Crystal Forest", alienation, angels, Beauty and the Beast, Charles Taylor, disenchantment, Enlightenment, fantasy, Georg Lukacs, Harmut Rosa, His Dark Materials, Homer, John Milton, Odyssey, Paradise Lost, Philip Pullman, re-enchantment, resonance, Theory of the Novel, Willam Sharp Comments closed
Women Battling the Marriage Plot
Although men got the quest plot while women were relegated to the marriage plot in the 18th century, a number of women writers found imaginative ways to circumvent it. Among these were Aphra Behn, Eliza Haywood, and Lady Mary Wortley Montagu.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "Lover", Aphra Behn, Country Wife, Haywood (Eliza), John Wilmot, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, Marriage Plot, quest plot, Rover, To a Lady in a Letter, William Wycherley Comments closed
Why the Alt-Right Austen Takeover Will Fail
The alt-right has tried to appropriate Jane Austen. Their readings are alternately hilarious and horrifying.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged alt-right, Fascism, Jane Austen, Mansfield Park, NEH, Persuasion, Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, William Bennet Comments closed
Desire Intensified by Separation
In my current living relationship, I see my wife for only short periods every two or three months. A passage in John Fowles’s “French Lieutenant Woman” is helping me get through the long absences.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Eroticism, French Lieutenant's Woman, John Fowles, long distance relationships, Repression, sexual desire, sexuality Comments closed
