Two memorable times that fiction appears in fiction are in Mark Twain’s “Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court” and Hergé’s Tintin adventure “Prisoners of the Sun.”
Monthly Archives: August 2017
Trump’s Pastor Endorses Worldly Power
By suggesting to Trump that he bomb North Korea, Trump’s pastor sounds disturbingly like Satan tempting Jesus in the desert, as described by Milton.
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Gogol’s Guide to Traveling
Friday I’m driving back to Maryland from Tennessee today and so have chosen a passage on traveling from Nikolai Gogol’s Dead Souls, which I’m listening to at the moment. I myself won’t have the same experience as Gogol’s traveler since I can’t lean back and fall asleep. Nevertheless, the passages reminds me of traveling by […]
Tolstoy on Resisting a Narcissist
If Trump is like Napoleon in Tolstoy’s “War and Peace,” can he be defeated by popular resistance, as he is in Tolstoy’s novel?
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged American Dream, Donald Trump, Immigration, Leo Tolstoy, Trump resistance, War and Peace Comments closed
Poetry Helped Feed Robert E. Lee Myth
Herman Melville and Julie Ward Howe, although anti-slavery, unfortunately wrote poems which helped mythologize Robert E. Lee, whose statues have become symbols of white supremacy. And indeed, Lee was a white supremacist.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "Lee in the Capitol", "Robert E. Lee", Civil War, Herman Melville, Julie Ward Howe, racism, white supremacism Comments closed
Baldwin Explains White Supremacists
To understand white supremacy, check out James Baldwin’s short story “Going To Meet the Man.” It helps explain the hatred and violence we saw in Charlottesville this past weekend.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Donald Trump, Going to Meet the Man, Heather Heyer, James Baldwin, neo-Nazis, white supremacists Comments closed
O World Inapprehensible, We Clutch Thee
Poet Francis Thompson, desperately seeking for God, imagines that Jesus can be found as readily on the Thames as on the Sea of Galilee.
Gogol Would Understand Trump
I may just have discovered the ultimate literary parallel for Donald Trump: Gogol’s Nozdrev from “Dead Souls.” Reading about Nozdrev helps us understanding our fascination with Trump.
