Monthly Archives: December 2018

The Indictment Game Is Afoot

By Robin Bates | Published: December 10, 2018

Monday Former federal prosecutor Ken White channeled Sherlock Holmes while explaining the latest revelations concerning Trump and his associates. The expression memorably associated with the great detective first appeared in “The Adventure of Abbey Grange”: All three briefs show the special counsel and the Southern District closing in on President Trump and his administration. They’re […]

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Adventure of Abbey Grange, Arthur Conan Doyle, Donald Trump, Mueller investigation, Robert Mueller | Comments closed

The Meaning of Hell

By Robin Bates | Published: December 8, 2018

Spiritual Sunday Stephen Greenblatt, the world’s preeminent Shakespearean, has an article about hell in the latest issue of the New York Review of Books that has me thinking about a subject I generally avoid. It’s a smart piece but fairly grim. For the most part, my view of hell is the one set forth in […]

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged "Seneca a Fragment", Charlotte Bronte, Christopher Marlowe, Dante, Doctor Faustus, hell, Inferno, Jane Eyre, John Wilmot | Comments closed

Philosophy Needs Literature

By Robin Bates | Published: December 7, 2018

Friday The other day Eva Bahovec, a good friend who teaches in Ljubljana’s philosophy department, had me meet with two students preparing to write Women’s Studies dissertations. Although philosophy and Women’s Studies are not my areas of expertise, Bogdan Repič and Polonca Mesec want their studies to have a literary component, which is where I […]

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Ion, philosophy, Plato, Republic, Women's Studies | Comments closed

Among Slovenian School Children

By Robin Bates | Published: December 6, 2018

A visit to an 8th grade English class in Slovenia had me thinking of Yeats’s “Among School Children and appreciating the educational process.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged "Among School Children", school, school children, Slovenia, William Butler Yeats | Comments closed

Incoming Judge Cites Maya Angelou

By Robin Bates | Published: December 5, 2018

Sugman Suggs, the latest member of Slovenia’s constitutional court, cited Maya Angelou in her acceptance speech. The passage was very appropriate.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged "Voice", Constitution, constitutional court, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, judges, Katja Sugman Suggs, Maya Angelou, Mladen Dolar | Comments closed

H. W. Bush’s “War and Peace” Lessons

By Robin Bates | Published: December 4, 2018

“War and Peace” was the late H. W. Bush’s favorite novel. Perhaps he imitated Gen. Kutuzov by withdrawing from Iraq after winning.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush, Iraq War, Leo Tolstoy, Persian Gulf War, Saddam Hussein, War and Peace | Comments closed

Balzac’s Gobseck Understands Trump

By Robin Bates | Published: December 3, 2018

Balzac’s dazzling novella “Gobseck” finds the measure of the Trumps and other billionaires who sell out the nation.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged debt, Donald Trump, Gobseck, greed, Honoré de Balzac, national debt, other people's money | Comments closed

At Once a Voice Arose

By Robin Bates | Published: December 1, 2018

Although Hardy was agnostic, “Darkling Thrush functions as a powerful Advent poem, with the longing for light in a world without faith.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged "Darkling Thrust", Advent, Thomas Hardy | Comments closed