As a white man, the Las Vegas shooter could not be fitted into an easy right wing Other narrative. “Beowulf” shows how monsters generally look like us.
A new book looks at how the ancient Greeks approached the issue of anger in works such as “Iliad,” “Ajax,” and “Hecuba.
Also posted in Euripides, Homer, Sophocles | Tagged Ajax, Beowulf, Euripides, Hecuba, Homer, Iliad, Sophocles, violence, war | The Manchester bombing sends us, as previous mass killings have done, to “Beowulf.” Perhaps no work of literature better captures the monstrosity of angry resentment. Fortunately, Manchester is responding with its version of Beowulf’s iron resolve.
Beowulf offers us guidance for fighting back against Trumpism. Here’s a step-by-step account of the three monsters that will be facing liberals and what they must do.
Perhaps more than any other American writer, Stephen King understands such incidents as the Orlando massacre. The famous horror writer dreams America’s nightmares and appears prescient when they come true.
Also posted in King (Stephen), Milton (John) | Tagged Beowulf, Grendel, gun violence, It, John Milton, mass murder, Omar Mateen, Orlando killings, Paradise Lost, Stephen King | In what has become a grim tradition for this blog, I rerun my post on Grendelian violence in response to the Orlando mass killing at a gay bar.
White militiamen rode into the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge like Grendel, but they left as though they had gone mano a mano with Beowulf. The fed essentially took a page out of the Geat warrior’s book and came away similarly successful.
In reaction to the horrors of the Paris massacres, we are in danger of becoming consumed by the vengeful grief of Grendel’s Mother. The times call upon us to be Beowulf strong.
Thursday Normally I would be delighted with a New York Times article that matched up presidential candidates with works of literature, such as Ted Cruz with Beowulf, Hillary Clinton with Persuasion, and Bernie Sanders with Around the World in 80 Days. This piece, however, strikes me as so uninformative that it’s all but useless. I’ve tried […]
Also posted in Austen (Jane), Dickens (Charles), Hardy (Thomas), Twain (Mark), Verne (Jules) | Tagged Around the World in 80 Days, Beowulf, Bernie Sanders, Carla Fiorina, Charles Dickens, Democrats, Donald Trump, Election 2016, GOP, Hillary Clinton, Huckleberry Finn, Jane Austen, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Jules Verne, Mansfield Park, Marco Rubio, Mark Twain, Mike Huckabee, Oliver Twist, Persuasion, politics, Rand Paul, Tale of Two Cities, Ted Cruz | 
