Monthly Archives: May 2020

Does a Mask Tell Us More than a Face?

By Robin Bates | Published: May 20, 2020

Oscar Wilde once wrote that a mask tells us more than a face. Does this apply to coronavirus masks?

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On Rereading During a Pandemic

By Robin Bates | Published: May 19, 2020

In three articles on rereading great literature during difficult times, two discuss how it reassures them and the third that literature isn’t meant to reassure.

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Reading Montaigne While Confined

By Robin Bates | Published: May 19, 2020

In “Gentleman in Moscow,” the count turns to “Robinson Crusoe” to figure out how to survive. Reading Montaigne is a mixed bag.

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Making Charn Great Again

By Robin Bates | Published: May 17, 2020

How does one capture Trump’s disastrous handling of Covid? I invoke Jadis in “The Magician’s Nephew” destroying Charn.

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A World Charged with God’s Grandeur

By Robin Bates | Published: May 16, 2020

Hopkins captures associates the Holy Spirit with the coming of spring, where we reconnect with nature’s beauty.

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The Good Place & Dante’s Inferno

By Robin Bates | Published: May 14, 2020

The show “The Good Place” provides insight into Dante’s Inferno.

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Ride with an Outlaw, Die with Him

By Robin Bates | Published: May 13, 2020

In “Lonesome Dove,” the feckless Jake Spoon falls in with some outlaws and gets punished for the association. A GOP-Trump comparison?

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Primal Hatred of Coyotes & Blacks

By Robin Bates | Published: May 12, 2020

In reflecting upon primal race hatred, I find a parallel hatred–of coyotes–in Kingsolver’s novel “Prodigal Summer.”

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Is Golding’s Novel True? Sadly, Yes

By Robin Bates | Published: May 11, 2020

A recent Guardian article about actual shipwrecked boys raises doubts about the psychology of “Lord of the Flies.” Sadly, the book is still true.

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