I share a discussion I had with John Stubbs, author of riveting biographies on Swift, Donne, and the cavalier poets.
Monthly Archives: November 2018
In Praise of Literary Biography
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged John Milton, John Stubbs, Jonathan Swift, literary biography, Modest Proposal, Paradise Lost Comments closed
Read to Resist: An Introduction
Thursday I share today the introduction to my upcoming book, which is still in draft form and whose title I keep changing. Latest title: Read to Resist: Classic Lit Provides Tools for Battling Trump and Trumpism. I’m still not entirely satisfied with that and so will keep tinkering. In any event, here’s my first attempt […]
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Alexander Pope, Beowulf, Donald Trump, Dunciad, Go Set a Watchman, H. G. Wells, Harper Lee, Invisible Man, John Milton, Leo Tolstoy, Othello, Paradise Lost, To Kill a Mockingbird, Trump resistance, War and Peace, William Shakespeare Comments closed
Lettuce, E. Coli, and Deregulation
Trump’s FDA put a hold on FDA regulations designed to prevent E. coli and the result has been another outbreak. Calling Upton Sinclair.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged contaminated lettuce, Deregulation, Donald Trump, E. coli, FDA, Jungle, romaine lettuce, Upton Sinclair Comments closed
America’s Dark Fairy Tale
Gordimer’s “Once Upon a Time” is about a wall to keep out perceived dangers that turns into a nightmare. As such, it works as a parable about Trump’s wall.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged asylum seekers, Donald Trump, Nadine Gordimer, Once Upon a Time, teargas, walls Comments closed
By Donne Logic, Chess Refined, Not Dull
While the 2018 chess championship is proving disappointing to some, Donne helps us see it as the experts do.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "Valediction: Forbidding Mourning", chess, Fabiano Caruano, John Donne, Magnus Carlsen, world chess championship Comments closed
The Only Lasting Treasure, Truth
William Cowper’s meditations on Truth in “The Task” dramatize Jesus’s words on the subject.
Who Determines What a Work Means?
I share a copy of a talk I gave on how literary interpretations are decided, focusing on theorists Stanley Fish and Hans Robert Jauss.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Hans Robert Jauss, Literary Theory, Reader Response Theory, Stanley Fish Comments closed
At This Table, We Give Thanks
Joy Harjo takes us to her kitchen table in a poem that, while giving thanks, complicates Thanksgiving by facing up to the bad as well as the good.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "Perhaps the World Ends Here", Joy Harjo, Thanksgiving Comments closed
Teaching Lit in Ljubljana
I share my experiences teaching Shakespeare and post-colonial literature in Slovenia.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood, Midsummer Night's Dream, Prešeren (France), Romeo and Juliet, travel abroad, William Shakespeare Comments closed
