Author Archives: Robin Bates

Going Gently into That Good Night–Or Not

By Robin Bates | Published: January 6, 2025

In which I pull on Kenyon, Dylan Thomas, Conrad, Chandler, Lawrence and others in an attempt to penetrate the mysteries of dying.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged "Do Not Go Gentle", "Fern Hill", "In Blackwater Woods", "Let Evening Come", Big Sleep, D. H. Lawrence, death and dyiing, Dylan Thomas, Heart of Darkness, Jane Kenyon, Joseph Conrad, Mary Oliver, Raymond Chandler, Sons and Lovers | Comments closed

Playing Whack-a-Mole with Jan. 6

By Robin Bates | Published: January 5, 2025

The GOP plays moral whack-a-mole (Kate Atkinson’s metaphor) with Jan. 6. Soon they may claim, like the government in “100 Years of Solitude,” that it never happened.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Ambrose Bierce, Beowulf, Big Sky, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, January 6, Kate Atkinson, One Hundred Years of Solitude, Oscar Wilde | Comments closed

The Gift That Only You Can Give

By Robin Bates | Published: January 4, 2025

Like many Epiphany poems, Jan Richardson’s “For Those Who Have Far to Travel” focuses on the journey.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged "For Those Who Have Far to Travel", "Journey of the Magi", Christina Rossetti, Christmas Carol, Jan Richardson, T. S. Eliot | Comments closed

Lit Packs a Powerful Punch

By Robin Bates | Published: January 3, 2025

My book “Better Living through Lit” this past year was only one of several making the case that literature can be social dynamite.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Beloved, Ben Jonson, Better Living through Literature, book bans, Christopher Marlowe, Dangerous Fictions, Harold Bloom, Hesiod, Homer, Iliad, Lyta Gold, Odyssey, Oscar Wilde, Picture of Dorian Gray, Plato, Toni Morrison, William Shakespeare | Comments closed

To Stay Sane in 2025, Read Rasselas

By Robin Bates | Published: January 2, 2025

Johnson’s Rasselas is must reading for those worrying about the next four years.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Election 2024, Rasselas, Samuel Johnson | Comments closed

On Election Night 2024, The Tempest

By Robin Bates | Published: January 1, 2025

On Election Night 2024, I turned to a subplot in Shakespeare’s “Tempest” to understand what was going on.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Donald Trump, Election 2024, Kamala Harris, Shakespeare, Tempest | Comments closed

To Survive Trump, Be Like Lizzie

By Robin Bates | Published: December 31, 2024

How to survive Trumpism’s anticipated assaults on democracy? Reading Rossetti’s “Goblin Market” is a good place to start.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Christina Rossetti, cults, Donald Trump, Fascism, Goblin Market, Herman Melville, Moby Dick | Comments closed

A Florida County Targeted Paradise Lost

By Robin Bates | Published: December 30, 2024

Milton’s Paradise Lost, banned by a Florida County this past year, exposes the hypocrites who have taken it off school library shelves.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Bacchae, Book banning, Euripides, John Milton, MAGA, Paradise Lost | Comments closed

Unexpected Responses to a Murder

By Robin Bates | Published: December 29, 2024

An African American’s response to the killing of Healthcare Insurance CEO Brian Thompson echoes one found in “Midnight’s Children” following the killing of Gandhi.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Brian Thompson, Gandhi, Insurance companies, Midnight's Children, Race in America, Salman Rushdie | Comments closed