Swift anticipated ChatGPT in “Gulliver’s Travels,” along with the problems that have arisen.
Author Archives: Robin Bates
Swift Foresaw ChatGPT’s Problems
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged artificial intelligence, ChatGPT, Gulliver's Travels, Jonathan Swift, technolog Comments closed
Do You Have Time to Linger?
Why do goldfinches sing? Why do poets write poems? According to Oliver, “for sheer delight and gratitude.”
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "Archaic Torso of Apollo", birdsong, goldfinches, Mary Oliver, Rainer Maria Rilke Comments closed
Margaret Atwood on the Cicada Love Song
Atwood’s “Cicadas” depicts the sexual urges that drive the insect.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged cicadas, D. H. Lawrence, James Joyce, Margaret Atwood, sex, Walt Whitman Comments closed
Trump, Quixote, and Windmills
Both Trump and Don Quixote have an animus against windmills. The resemblances end there, however.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged climate change, Don Quixote, Miguel de Cervantes, windmills Comments closed
Pentecost in Narnia
There’s a Pentecostal scene in “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” that captures the excitement of the Holy Spirit’s descent.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "In the Bleak Midwinter", C. S. Lewis, Christine Rossetti, Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, Pentecost, T. S. Eliot, Waste Land Comments closed
René Girard on What Lit Can Teach Us
Philosophical anthropologist René Girard owes his ideas about mimetic desire to literature.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Cynthia Haven, mimetic desire, Rebecca Adams, René Girard, scapegoating, violence Comments closed
To Be Trump’s VP, Leap and Creep
The competition to be Trump’s VP resembles the stick leaping and crawling contest in Lilliput.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Donald Trump, Election 2024, GOP, Gulliver's Travels, Jonathan Swift Comments closed
Alice Munro, R.I.P.
Alice Munro, who died yesterday, explored themes of survival in everyday settings.
