Pedophile Epstein charmed people, blinding them to evident pedophilia. So does Humbert Humbert in Nabokov’s “Lolita.”
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Monthly Archives: December 2025
Winter Solstice and Christmas
A winter solstice poem by Susan Cooper.
Bringing Up Baby—in Grad School
In which I remember balancing grad school and a new baby.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "Courtship of the Yonghy-Bonghy-Bo", babies, Death of a Salesman, Edward Lear, Flies, Go Dog Go, Hands Hands Fingers Thumb, Henry Miller, In the Night Kitchen, Jean Paul Sartre, Maurice Sendak Comments closed
Why Emma Is My Favorite Austen Novel
Why “Emma” is my favorite Austen novel. It all has to do with Mrs. Elton, Emma’s double.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged doubles, Emma, Jane Austen, Mansfield Park, Northanger Abbey, Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility Comments closed
Rob Reiner’s 18th Century Sensibility
In which I honor Rob Reiner by looking back at “Princess Bride” and how I used it to teach Henry Fielding’s “Tom Jones.”
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Henry Fielding, Princess Bride, Rob Reiner, Tom Jones, William Goldman Comments closed
After Sydney, Dragon Depression
After mass shooting at Brown University and in Sidney, Australia, we turn once again to Beowulf, especially its depiction of dragon depression.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Beowulf, Brown University shooting, Depression, gun violence, mass shootings, Sidney massacre Comments closed
Church Music, Sweetest of Sweets
In a Malcolm Guite lecture, the Anglican poet and priest draws on Donne and Herbert to imagine us tuning our instruments for entry into the heavenly choir.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "Denial", “Church Music", “Hymn to God My God in My Sickness", “Passionate Shepherd to His Love", "Sonnet 29", Christopher Marlowe, George Herbert, John Donne, Malcolm Guite, Music, William Shakespeare Comments closed
Early Scenes from a Marriage
My memoir continued, this time looking at my relationship with Julia during our grad school years in Atlanta.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "River Merchant's Wife", Anna Karenina, Country Wife, Ezra Pound, Jane Austen, Leo Tolstoy, Marriage, Pride and Prejudice, William Wycherley Comments closed