Jesus telling the disciples they “the salt of the earth” reminds me of Clifton’s poem “salt.”
Monthly Archives: February 2020
A Rose for Donald Trump
To express his horror at Trump’s State of the Union performance, a commentator turned to Faulkner’s Southern Gothic story “Rose for Emily.”
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Donald Trump, Rose for Emily, Southern Gothic, State of the Union, William Faulkner Comments closed
Support Trump or Your Head on a Pike
To avoid having their heads hoisted on pikes, once moderate Republicans voted to acquit Trump. The pike reference comes from Shakespeare.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Adam Schiff, Donald Trump, GOP, Henry VI Part 2, Man for All Seasons, Robert Bolt, Trump Senate Trial, William Shakespeare Comments closed
The Dangers of Emotional Identification
In which I push back against an article warning about emotional identification with literary characters.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Age of Sensibility, Anne Radcliffe, Goethe, Hannah Arendt, Homer, Iliad, Jane Austen, Jean Jacques Rousseau, Namwali Serpell, Northanger Abbey, Sense and Sensibility, Sorrows of Young Werther Comments closed
To Understand America, Read Gothics
In a course on American supernatural gothic fiction, I argue that Poe pushed back against the Enlightenment and Hawthorne against Puritanism.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Birthmark, Black Cat, Edgar Allan Poe, gothic fiction, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Scarlet Letter, Tell-Tale Heart, Young Goodman Brown Comments closed
How Trump Is Like and Unlike Claudius
Unlike Claudius in “Hamlet,” who at least thinks he is accountable to God, Trump doesn’t think he should be accountable to anyone.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Donald Trump, GOP, Hamlet, Senate Trial of Trump, William Shakespeare Comments closed
The Hero and the Goddess
My reflections on the meaning of Homer’s gods “The Odyssey.”
