Monthly Archives: February 2020

Sin and Death Enter the World

I juxtapose the account of the fall, found in Genesis, with Milton’s “Paradise Lost,” regarding the whole as a Lenten reflection.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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What To Make of a Hero That Lies

A student wants to know what to make of Homer’s apparent approval of Odysseus’s lying. The question doesn’t admit of an easy answer.

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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.

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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.

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If Librarians Were Honest…

This Joe Mills poem reminds us that libraries are dangerous–because they change lives.

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