Monthly Archives: December 2018

Byron’s Climate Change Nightmare

By Robin Bates | Published: December 20, 2018

Wednesday News about climate change grows grimmer by the month, with the latest governmental reports predicting that extreme weather events will kill thousands while devastating national economies. I therefore share today a 19th century climate change poem although, in this instance, the climate grows colder rather than warmer. In 1816 the world experienced “the year without […]

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Green Knight & the Great Trump Hunt

By Robin Bates | Published: December 19, 2018

Wednesday Donald Trump’s public relations lawyer Rudy Giuliani put on a performance for the ages this past Sunday, reminding me of no one so much as the fox in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Hold on while I explain. Trump often obfuscates to fend off charges leveled against him. If you can cloud the […]

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Brexit Caused by Stiff-Necked Pride?

By Robin Bates | Published: December 18, 2018

Tuesday Like many, I have been watching Britain’s Brexit disaster with a mixture of horror and sadness. For outsiders like me, the solution seems obvious: have another referendum, this time without Russian interference, and see if the country really wants to leave the European Union. Polls suggest that some Brexiteers are suffering from buyer’s remorse […]

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Brecht’s Warning for Democracies

By Robin Bates | Published: December 17, 2018

Monday In an important debut article for the Atlantic, former New Yorker writer George Packer mentions a Bertolt Brecht poem to illustrate the threat that the GOP currently poses to democracy. The article contends that Donald Trump is the logical culmination of the Republicans’ 50-year descent into an authoritarian, white identitarian party. According to Packer, the descent […]

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The Roots of a Beautiful Marriage

By Robin Bates | Published: December 16, 2018

Spiritual Sunday Every time I visit Slovenia (six times now, the first two for year-long Fulbrights), I learn something new. In my most recent visit, I discovered it is common for couples to live together for years before getting married (if they ever do). While I can’t speak to overall statistics, I talked with several […]

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Does Lit Crit Make Lit Less Fun?

By Robin Bates | Published: December 14, 2018

Friday My Ljubljana colleague Jason Blake alerted me to a Chronicle of Higher Education article that wrestles with the question of whether studying literature should be fun. It’s a fairly confused piece, with Baruch College’s Timothy Aubry conflating a number of issues better treated separately. Nevertheless, it’s worth a response because Aubry addresses questions that non-academics […]

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Poe & Hiding in Plain Sight

By Robin Bates | Published: December 13, 2018

Thursday Now that the phrase “hiding in plain sight” is on everyone’s lips, it’s worth revisiting an old post, written 18 months ago, about Edgar Allan Poe’s “Purloined Letter.” After all, since then we’ve had confirmed one of the more spectacular instances of a letter theft committed in plain sight. When Trump said during the campaign, […]

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Snow Days Open Cracks in Time

By Robin Bates | Published: December 12, 2018

Wednesday Checking the east coast’s weather report from Slovenia, I see that it has been blanketed by snow, closing a number of schools and workplaces. I therefore repost this essay on the joys of a snow day. Reprinted from Feb. 9, 2010 An unusually heavy snowstorm has locked us into our homes these past few […]

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Michelle Obama’s Favorite Books

By Robin Bates | Published: December 11, 2018

Tuesday The indispensable “By the Book” column in the New YorkTimes recently interviewed Michelle Obama about her favorite books, and her answers are fascinating. I’ll list them and then discuss the patterns I see: Novels she’s currently reading –Zadie Smith, White Teeth, which Malia also loves –Tayari Jones, American Marriage –Mohsid Hamid, Exit West –Anne Patchett, […]

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