Trump and the NRA call for heroes with guns to save us from mass shootings. Conrad’s “Lord Jim” shows us what happens when fantasies encounter reality.
Monthly Archives: February 2018
What Would Lord Jim Do?
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Donald Trump, Joseph Conrad, Lord Jim, mass shooting, Parkland Florida shooting Comments closed
On Labeling Survivors as “Crisis Actors”
Murakami has the perfect analogy for the vast rightwing echo chamber that labels mass shooting survivors as “crisis actors.”
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged conspiracy theories, crisis actors, Haruki Murakami, NRA, Parkland Florida shooting, Wind-Up Bird Chronicle Comments closed
Snakes, Ladders, and National Disunity
Rushdie’s “Midnight’s Children” gives us profound insights into the forces that divide people–Indians as well as Americans–and also offers solutions.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Donald Trumpj, electoral politics, Midnight's Children, Salman Rusdie Comments closed
Flannery O’Connor on Lenten Despair
Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” works as a powerful Lenten meditation upon doubt and salvation.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Catholicism, Flannery O'Connor, Good Man Is Hard to Find, Lent, sin and salvation, Southern Baptists Comments closed
Mass Killings, Our Most Dangerous Game
Many high school students these days feel hunted, bringing to mind Richard Connell’s “The Most Dangerous Game.” Unfortunately, Trump sees it all as a game as well.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Donald Trump, gun control, gun massacres, Most Dangerous Game, NRA, Parkland Florida shooting, Richard Connell, Russian bots Comments closed
Magical Realism’s Special Powers
Magical realism defined and its significance discussed.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged 100 Years of Solitude, Beloved, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Gunter Grass, Haruki Marakami, magical realism, Tin Drum, Toni Morrison, Wind-Up Bird Chronicle Comments closed
Foodie Lit, an Antidote to Anorexia?
In “The Reading Cure: How Books Restored My Appetite,” the author turned to Dickens and T. H. White but shied away from Joanne Harris’s “Chocolat.”
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Satan and Trump, Gifted Demagogues
Satan in “Paradise Lost” is a gifted leader who manipulates people for his own selfish ends–like a certain American president.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged authoritarian leaders, Constitution, Donald Trump, John Milton, Paradise Lost, tyranny Comments closed
Is Sexist Lit Gaslighting Women?
A Guardian article argues that critical praise for sexist male authors valorizes patriarchal attitudes.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Charlotte Bronte, Donald Trump, Ernest Hemingway, Feminism, Hillary Clinton, Human Stain, Jane Eyre, Lolita, MeToo, Norman Mailer, Philip Roth, Saul Bellow, Sexism, Vladimir Nabokov Comments closed
