A recent New Yorker article critiques our reliance on stories but makes the mistake of not distinguishing between different kinds of stories.
Monthly Archives: July 2023
Mixed Feelings about “On Raglan Road”
Before having second thoughts, I once was in love with Kavanagh’s “On Raglan Road.”
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "On Raglan Road", "Sonnet 147", Dark Lady of the Sonnets, Hilda Moriarty, Patrick Kavanagh, Unrequited love, William Shakespeare Comments closed
To Fight Authoritarianism, Think Sisyphus
How to fight against authoritarianism? This of yourself as Camus’s Sisyphus.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Albert Camus, authoritarianism, Myth of Sisyphus, Ruth Ben-Ghiat, Sisyphus Comments closed
Poets Talking Poetry over a Beer
In this R.S. Thomas poem, two poets engage in the never-ending discussion of whether poetry is more craft or inspiration.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "Circus Animals Desertion", "Poetry for Supper", Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer, Ion, John Keats, Parliament of Fowls, Plato, R. S. Thomas, Squire's Tale, W. B. Yeats Comments closed
History’s Arc Bends Towards Kafka
The late Kundera has fascinating insights into how the novel has intersected with history.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Art of the Novel, authoritarianism, Castle, Don Quixote, Franz Kafka, Gustave Flaubert, Honoré de Balzac, Jane Austen, Madame Bovary, Miguel de Cervantes, Milan Kundera, sexuality, Slowness, Trial Comments closed
Kundera Understood Authoritarianism
The late Milan Kundera understood the authoritarian mindset in a deep way. “Book of Laughter and Forgetting” and “Eternal Lightness of Being” capture the mindset.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Aeschylus, Agamemnon, Book of Laughter and Forgetting, Donald Trump, Eternal Lightness of Being, Flies, Jean Paul Sartre, MAGA, Milan Kundera Comments closed
Happiness Is Living in Inwardness
May Sarton probes the nature of happiness in this peaceful poem.
