Monthly Archives: May 2023

Kingsolver Exposes Child Hunger

By Robin Bates | Published: May 21, 2023

In writing about child hunger in “Demon Copperhead,” Kingsolver triggers memories where I saw it as a pre-teen.

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Behold, He Lightens the Dark Clouds

By Robin Bates | Published: May 20, 2023

In Donne’s “Ascension,” Jesus transforms from strong ram to mild lamb to guide the poet to God.

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Baldwin, Cop Sadism, and MAGA

By Robin Bates | Published: May 18, 2023

In “If Beale Street Could Talk,” Baldwin captures cop sadism of the sort we also seen in Trump supporters.

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How Proust Saved a Prisoner’s Soul

By Robin Bates | Published: May 17, 2023

In an intense search for meaning, prisoner Daniel Genis finally found it in Proust.

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Selling Dead Souls in an American Prison

By Robin Bates | Published: May 16, 2023

While lit mostly helped Daniel Genis handle a 10-year prison term, novels by Gogol and Thomas Mann got him into special trouble.

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Reading in Solitary Confinement

By Robin Bates | Published: May 15, 2023

Reporting on reading in prison, Genis reports that lit helped him cope with solitary confinement but didn’t always help him understand his fellow inmates.

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Frustrated Longing in Queen Charlotte

By Robin Bates | Published: May 14, 2023

In Netflix’s “Queen Charlotte,” two widows form an unlikely friendship. Both would benefit from Lady Mary Wortley Montagu’s poetry.

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T.S. Eliot’s Cats and Jesus’s Sheep

By Robin Bates | Published: May 13, 2023

In a sermon about Jesus as shepherd knowing each of our names, Scott Lee cites a T.S. Eliot cat poem.

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The Perfect Sonnet for Mother’s Day

By Robin Bates | Published: May 11, 2023

Note: If you wish to receive, via e-mail, (1) my weekly newsletter or (2) daily copies of these posts, notify me at [email protected] and indicate which you would like. I promise not to share your e-mail address with anyone. To unsubscribe, send me a follow-up email. Friday With Mother’s Day coming up Sunday, here’s one of the […]

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