Monthly Archives: October 2019

Beowulf Transcends Tolkien’s Racism

By Robin Bates | Published: October 10, 2019

“Beowulf” and “Lord of the Rings” have blind spots but they are transcendent works for all that.

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The GOP in Trump’s Coils

By Robin Bates | Published: October 9, 2019

Trump is like the witch in Lewis’s “Silver Chair,” casting a spell on the GOP that gets them to believe an alternative reality.

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C. S. Lewis and Trumpian Doublespeak

By Robin Bates | Published: October 8, 2019

C. S. Lewis’s “Last Battle” shows us a forerunner to Trump in Shift the Ape, who accuses his attackers of what he himself is guilty of.

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Following a Drought, Healing Rain

By Robin Bates | Published: October 7, 2019

Tuesday For weeks now, we here in Tennessee and other parts of the American south have been gripped by what they’re calling a “flash drought.” Abnormally high temperatures and lack of any precipitation have been “cracking farm soil, drying up ponds and raising the risk of wildfires.” We’re far from the worst extreme weather event […]

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Trump’s Willie Stark Cynicism

By Robin Bates | Published: October 6, 2019

Trump’s view of humanity resembles that of Warren’s Willie Stark: Everyone is corrupt. (And therefore no one is accountable.)

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Lord, Thou’st Made the World Too Beautiful

By Robin Bates | Published: October 5, 2019

Millay’s gorgeous poem about autumn testifies to God’s hand in the world.

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Leaves Condemned to Be Free

By Robin Bates | Published: October 3, 2019

Scott Bates offers this humorous existentialist meditation on falling leaves.

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Do Novels Open Us Up or Contain Us?

By Robin Bates | Published: October 2, 2019

A recent Zadie Smith article explores whether novels open us up or contain us. Her answer: Both.

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Why Trump Is Not a Tragic Hero

By Robin Bates | Published: October 1, 2019

Wednesday The strangest development in the Trump Ukraine scandal may be the way that Trump himself has given us the smoking gun—which is to say, the rough transcript of a phone call where he tries to shake down the Ukrainian president for dirt on the 2020 political opponent he most fears. Jon Meacham attributes Trump’s […]

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