The Finn episode in Beowulf applies only to well to the Hamas terror attack on Israel–and to the probable Israeli response.
Monthly Archives: October 2023
Finn, Hengest, and Terror in Israel
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged 9-11, Beowulf, Grendel's mother, Hamas, Hamas terror attack, Israel, Terrorism, Timothy Snyder Comments closed
Grendel’s Mother Attacks Israel
Hamas’s attack on Israel brings to mind Grendel’s Mother, who is the archetype of perpetual blood feuds.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged anti-Semitism, Beowulf, Grendel's mother, Hamas, Israel, Oct. 7 Israel attack, Terrorism Comments closed
Got a Problem? Call a Poet
Tragedy, it turns out, is a powerful literary form for dealing with posttraumatic fear.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Aeschylus, Agamemnon, Angus Fletcher, Aristotle, bibliotherapy, catharsis, literary technique, Oedipus, philosophy, posttraumatic fear, PTSD, Rhetoric, Sigmund Freud, sophists, Sophocles, Wonderworks Comments closed
St. Francis: Made for Beauty
St. Francis radically changed the way we see beauty and ourselves in relationship to beauty.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "As Kingfishers Catch Fire", "Francis Meets a Leper", "Saint Francis and the Birds", "St. Clare Dies at Her Mirror", "St. Francis and the Sow, Bonaventure, Clare, Dante, David Citino, Duns Scotus, Galway Kinnell, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Life of a Saint: After Giotto, Marilyn Nelson, Murray Bodo, Paradiso, Plato, Seamus Heaney, St. Francis, Thomas of Celano Comments closed
Rising Anti-Semitism, So Call the Golem
The Golem of Prague may be the forerunner of many comic book characters. With rising-Antisemitism, we still need him.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, anti-Semitism, comic books, Donald Trump, Fascism, golem of Prague Comments closed
Poetic Incentives to Take Long Walks
If you are a walker, read 17th century poet Thomas Traherne to deepen the experience.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged George Herbert, Nature, Thomas Traherne, Walking, William Blake, wonder Comments closed
Russia’s “Expendable” Invaders
Russia’s invading army regards certain men as expendable. I am reminded of the shrews in the “Redwall” books by Jacques.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Brian Jacques, casualties of war, J.R.R. Tolkien, Lord of the Rings, Redwall, Ukraine invasion, Vladimir Putin, war Comments closed
To Understand Trump, Read Gogol
To understand Trump’s con, read Gogol’s “Dead Souls.”
On Defending Books against Bullies
On book banning and how to respond to the banners.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "Smut", Antonia Scatton, Beloved, Book banning, censorship, Tom Lehrer, Toni Morrison Comments closed
