Lit Hub had a reader poll to determine the evilest literary character. Maybe not surprisingly in the Trump era, Orwell’s dictator won.
Author Archives: Robin Bates
Mirror on the Wall, Who Is Evilest?
Posted in Ayn Rand, Uncategorized Tagged 1984, Blood Meridian, Cormac McCarthy, Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Evil, George Orwell, Sigmund Freud, Stand, Stephen King, Walt Kelly Leave a comment
On Carlsbad Caves, Science and Religion
A visit to Carlsbad Caverns led me to theological speculations, partly because they’re magnificent and partly because I was reading Byatt’s “Possession.”
The Spiritual Power of Cliff Dwellings
Many years ago Willa Cather’s “Professor’s House” made me want to visit the New Mexico cliff dwellings. This past week I was finally about to fulfill that wish.
For Mother’s Day, a Pregnant Mary
Hopkins’s “May Magnificat” associated pregnant Mary with spring bursting out all over.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "Cherry Tree Carol", "May Magnificat", "Spring", "Sumer is ycomen in", Gerard Manley Hopkins, Mary, pregnancy Comments closed
Tolstoy’s Advice for Diplomats
Former diplomat Fletcher Burton shows Tolstoy’s brilliance in depicting diplomats and diplomacy in War in Peace.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged diplomacy, Fletcher Burton, Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace Comments closed
An Iranian Hostage Recalls Tolstoy
In which one of the 1980 Iranian hostages explains why “War and Peace” meant so much to him at the time.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, Emma, George Eliot, Homer, Iliad, Iranian hostage crisis, Jane Austen, Leo Tolstoy, Life and Fate, Middlemarch, Pride and Prejudice, Vasily Grossman, War and Peace Comments closed
Dorian Gray, a Parable for Our Time
A recent Broadway production of “Picture of Dorian Gray” provides insights into our own narcissist-in-chief.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Anton Chekhov, Donald Trump, narcissism, Oscar Wilde, Picture of Dorian Gray, Uncle Vanya Comments closed
Trapped in Trump’s Morality Play
Trump’s administration resembles a medieval morality play like “Everyman,” what with its caricatured figures of vice. Luckily, the play has a happy ending.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Everyman, John Bunyan, morality plays, Pilgrim's Progress, Trump administration, Trump's legal battles Comments closed
A Poem to Celebrate Cinco de Mayo
Rodriguez’s poem “Cinco de Mayo” observes that the battle for freedom that the day celebrates is still ongoing.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged "Cinco de Mayo", Luis J. Rodriguez, Mexican-American culture Comments closed
