Monthly Archives: November 2023

Imagining Trump as Kafka’s K.

By Robin Bates | Published: November 9, 2023

Satirist Petri imagines Trump as Kafka’s K–but in this case Trump’s mind, not the court, is Kafkaesque.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Donald Trump, Franz Kafka, judicial system, Trial, Trump bank fraud case | Comments closed

Brecht, Hitler’s Coup Attempt, and Jan. 6

By Robin Bates | Published: November 8, 2023

Reacting to Hitler, Brecht expressed frustration as the ineffectiveness of crying out. Today, the 100th anniversary of Hitler’s coup attempts, resembles January 6, 2021.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged "Bad Time for Poetry", "When Evil-Doing Comes Like Falling Rain", Beer House Putsch, Bertolt Brecht, Donald Trump, Fascism, January 6 insurrection, Media | Comments closed

Stream of Consciousness’ Healing Powers

By Robin Bates | Published: November 7, 2023

In “Wonderworks” Fletcher explains the therapeutic effects of stream of consciousness, Virginia Woolf’s especially.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Angus Fletcher, Henry James, James Joyce, Marcel Proust, Mrs. Dalloway, stream of consciousness, Ulysses, Virginia Woolf, Wonderworks | Comments closed

Better Living through Lit–the Book

By Robin Bates | Published: November 6, 2023

In which I talk about my book, which a publisher has just accepted.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Company We Keep, reader response, Wayne Booth | Comments closed

Joe Biden as King Hrothgar

By Robin Bates | Published: November 5, 2023

Biden’s low poll numbers may be because, like King Hrothgar in “Beowulf,” he can’t prevent violence from breaking out in the great hall.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Beowulf, Donald Trump, gun violence, Joe Biden, Lewiston Maine killings, MAGA | Comments closed

Philip Pullman’s Unorthodox Afterlife

By Robin Bates | Published: November 4, 2023

In “Amber Spyglass,” Pullman rebels against orthodox versions of the afterlife and creates his own.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged "World", "Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep", Adonais, Aeschylus, Afterlife, Amber Spyglass, Dante, Divine Comedy, Eumenides, Golden Compass, Henry Vaughan, Inferno, life after death, Mary Elizabeth Frye, Oresteia trilogy, Paradiso, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Philip Pullman | Comments closed

A Poem for Guy Fawkes Night

By Robin Bates | Published: November 2, 2023

An 1870 poem celebrating the UK’s Guy Gawkes Day.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Guy Fawkes Day, Guy Gawkes, November 5 | Comments closed

Homer, Virgil, Dante and the Afterlife

By Robin Bates | Published: November 1, 2023

Literary afterlives, such as we encounter in Homer, Virgil, and Dante, are as much about this world as the next.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Aeneid, Afterlife, Dante, death, Divine Comedy, Homer, Inferno, inner doubts, midlife crisis, Odyssey, Paradiso, Samuel Johnson, Virgil | Comments closed