Milton’s Satan whispering into Eve’s ear as she sleeps is a lot like QAnon and Fox News whispering into the ears of gullible followers.
Monthly Archives: March 2022
Milton Explains QAnon Fantasizing
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged cospiracy theories, Fox News, John Milton, Paradise Lost, QAnon Comments closed
Meacham, Eliot on Democratic Heroism
Jon Meacham recently cited “Middlemarch” in a discussion about democratic notions of heroism.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged George Eliot, Jon Meacham, Middlemarch, St. Teresa, Ukraine invasion, Volodymyr Zelenskyy Comments closed
A Different Way to Observe Lent
Madeleine L’Engle breaks with stereotyped version of Lent in the 1966 lyric.
Zelenskyy Could Be a Hugo Character
Friday A Washington Post column yesterday reminded me of a post I wrote a year ago and which I am reconfiguring for today. Seeking to balance the inspiring leadership of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky with the grim reality of the war, David Ignatius wrote, Zelensky has taken the West with him, emotionally, to the barricades […]
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged authoritarianism, democracies, Miserables, Ukraine invasion, Victor Hugo, Vladimir Putin, Volodymyr Zelenskyy Comments closed
For GOP, Hellish Descent Is the Easy Part
NeverTrumper Bill Krisol recently quoted Virgil in revealing that he may have to vote for a Democrat in the next presidential election.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Aeneid, authoritarianism, Democracy, Donald Trump, Ukraine invasion, Virgil, Vladimir Putin Comments closed
Du Bois Embraced Dead White Men
Rather than being repressed by the classical tradition, writers of color have been energized by it.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "Booker T and W.E.B.", Booker T. Washington, classical education, Dudley Randall, W.E.B. Du Bois Comments closed
A Bakhtinian Reading of Zelenskyy
To understand Ukraine’s Zelensky, Adam Gopnik applies the theories of Mikhail Bakhtin.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Adam Gopnik, Comedy, Gargantua and Pantagruel, Rabelais, Ukraine invasion, Volodymyr Zelensky Comments closed
Did Russian Officials Recruit Dead Souls?
Did Russian officials claim to pay money to corrupt Ukrainian officials while actually pocketing the money? Cue Gogol’s “Dead Souls.”
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Dead Souls, FSB, Nikolai Gogol, Russian corruption, Ukraine invasion Comments closed
He Beholds the City with Tears in His Eyes
Today’s Gospel reading can be applied to Russia’s attack on Ukrainian cities. So can this Malcolm Guite poem.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "Jesus Wept", Jerusalem, Malcolm Guite, Ukraine invasion Comments closed
