I juxtapose the account of the fall, found in Genesis, with Milton’s “Paradise Lost,” regarding the whole as a Lenten reflection.
Monthly Archives: February 2020
Using Novels for Sexual Assualt
In Sanditon the novel, unlike the television series, the villainous Sir Edward Denham reads novels. He learns the wrong lessons from Samuel Richardson, however.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Clarissa, Daniel Defoe, Jane Austen, Moll Flanders, Pamela, rakes, Samuel Richardson, Sanditon, seduction, sexual assault Comments closed
Sanditon’s Disappointing Ending
While filled with allusions to the previous novels, the televised “Sanditon” is in the end a let-down. I explore why.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged adaptations, Emma, Jane Austen, Mansfield Park, Persuasion, Pride and Prejudice, Sanditon, Sense and Sensibility Comments closed
King on How Pandemics Spread
The coronavirus pandemic brings to mind Stephen King’s “The Stand.” There, the government starts the virus. In our own world, Trump has disassembled the agencies designed to stop pandemics.
Toni Morrison’s Black Gothic
If the Southern Gothic grows out of white denial about white terrorism, what are we to make of black gothic? Morrison’s “Beloved” offers some answers.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Beloved, gothic literature, return of the repressed, Southern Gothic, Toni Morrison Comments closed
St. Paul, St. Thecla, and the Wife of Bath
The Wife of Bath threads between visions of marriage articulated by St. Paul. In the process, she articulates a far more spiritual vision than that propagated by misogynist monks of the period.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Christian misogyny, Geoffrey Chaucer, Sexism, St. Paul, Wife of Bath Comments closed
When We Yield to Inner Darkness
The Odyssey explores how violence can swallow up those who engage in it. Odysseus is heroic in that he can listen to religious checks when blood lust threatens.
If Librarians Were Honest…
This Joe Mills poem reminds us that libraries are dangerous–because they change lives.
