The concept of “unleashing,” used to explain much of today’s upheaval, can also be applied to literature that changes lives.
Monthly Archives: October 2017
Literature’s Revolutionary Power
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Cass Sunstein, Charlotte Bronte, Elizabeth Rigby, Ezra Klein, Jane Eyre, unleashing Comments closed
Las Vegas: Our Killers, Ourselves
As a white man, the Las Vegas shooter could not be fitted into an easy right wing Other narrative. “Beowulf” shows how monsters generally look like us.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Beowulf, destructive anger, Donald Trump, Muslim ban, racism, Stephen Paddock Comments closed
Visit Puerto Rico with Wings of Healing
Read through hurricane-weary eyes, Coleridge’s “Dejection: An Ode” promises soulful hope.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "Dejection: An Ode", Hurricane Maria, hurricanes, Intimations of Immortality, Puerto Rico, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, William Wordsworth Comments closed
If Fielding Had Written about Trump
Henry Fielding would have had a field day writing about America’s president.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Donald Trump, Henry Fielding, Historical Register for the Year 1736, Jonathan Wild the Great, Tom Jones Comments closed
Wordsworth and a Depressed Philosopher
When utilitarian John Stuart Mill’s philosophy led him into despair, Wordsworth’s poetry saved him.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "Mock on, Aldous Huxley, Brave New World, Depression, Englightenment, Giver, Jeremy Bentham, John Stuart Mill, Lois Lowry, Tintern Abbey, Ursula K. LeGuin, utilitarianism, William Blake, William Wordsworth Comments closed
Assertive Women Drive Lear, Trump Mad
Lear is driven mad by his assertive daughters. Are strong women like the San Juan mayor also sending Trump around the bend?
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged assertive women, Carmen Yulin Cruz, Donald Trump, Hurricane Maria, Puerto Rico, William Shakespeare Comments closed
While the President Golfed…
Sarah Cleghorn’s famous poem “The Golf Links” captures our president, who golfs while Puerto Rico starves.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "Golf Links", CHIP, Donald Trump, Hurricane Maria, Puerto Rico, Sarah Cleghorn Comments closed
May We Sail without Giving into Our Fears
A Noah’s Ark poem by the great Syrian poet Adonis can be applied to the Puerto Rico rescue effort, especially as certain people on the right attempt to inject race into the affair.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "New Noah", Adonis, analysis, Donald Trump, evangelicals, flooding, Hurricane Maria, Puerto Rico, racism Comments closed
