Monthly Archives: May 2021

Javert Would Not Survive in Today’s GOP

By Robin Bates | Published: May 31, 2021

Hugo’s Javert is torn between his principles and God’s law. Trump cultists, having no principles, face no struggle.

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Always We Shall Walk with the Young Dead

By Robin Bates | Published: May 30, 2021

Edith Wharton’s “The Young Dead” captures the sadness of Memorial Day.

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Diverse Stones Dancing in a Spring

By Robin Bates | Published: May 29, 2021

Henry Vaughan’s “Regeneration” uses spring imagery to capture spiritual regeneration.

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On Soothing Riotous Mobs

By Robin Bates | Published: May 27, 2021

“Aeneid” has a passage that brings the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection to mind. And shows how a great leader would have handled it.

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Can Trumpists See the Real Biden?

By Robin Bates | Published: May 26, 2021

Can one see one’s savior as a monster? The issue shows up in Hugo’s “Les Misérables” and among Republicans who demonize Biden.

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The Bard Can Reopen the American Mind

By Robin Bates | Published: May 25, 2021

Allan Bloom’s “Shakespeare’s Politics” (1964) argues that, through the Bard, we better understand politics.

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Live and Die by Toxic Masculinity

By Robin Bates | Published: May 24, 2021

The GOP has embraced toxic masculinity. “Harry Potter” shows it will come back to burn them.

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Waiting for Godot–or Gopot

By Robin Bates | Published: May 23, 2021

Democrats waiting for bipartisan compromise is like waiting for Godot.

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Let Go Anger to Apprehend God Is Near

By Robin Bates | Published: May 22, 2021

A Scott Cairns Pentecost poem on what it takes to apprehend that God is within us.

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