Monthly Archives: February 2025

Which Tolkien Character Is Elon Musk?

By Robin Bates | Published: February 18, 2025

Musk loved Tolkien when young but resembles the villains more than the heroes–namely Gollum, Saruman, and ultimately Wormtongue.

By Robin Bates | Published: February 18, 2025

Comparing the Napoleonic complexes of Trump and Raskolnikov, the protagonist of Dostoevsky’s “Crime and Punishment.”

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By Robin Bates | Published: February 16, 2025

Steeled “On the Eve of My Birthday” uses the occasion to toast his life, “unsuccesses” as well as accomplishments.

By Robin Bates | Published: February 15, 2025

Henry Vaughan’s “My Soul, There Is a Country” reminds us that Christ’s love is there for us in difficult times.

By Robin Bates | Published: February 13, 2025

Jane Austen never directly reports a protagonist saying “yes” to a marriage proposal. For Valentine’s Day, I explore why.

By Robin Bates | Published: February 13, 2025

Julia and I spent the last week in a series of visits such as one encounters in Jane Austen novels.

By Robin Bates | Published: February 11, 2025

A Wall Street Journal columnist argues that Rousseau is responsible for today’s lost youth. That and not reading classic lit.

By Robin Bates | Published: February 10, 2025

Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness” is all too applicable to the Musk administration’s attempts to destroy America.

By Robin Bates | Published: February 9, 2025

When I was growing up as one of four boys, we thought of ourselves as Dumas’s musketeers. We have now lost one of our number.