Category Archives: Uncategorized

Newsom, Swift, and Parody’s Power

By Robin Bates | Published: August 27, 2025

Gavin Newsom’s parodies of Donald Trump tweets are reminiscent of Swift’s attack on an 18th century fortuneteller in “The Bickerstaff Papers.”

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Bickerstaff Papers, Donald Trump, Gavin Newsom, Isaac Bickerstaff, Jonathan Swift, Mark Twain, Mysterious Stranger, parody | Comments closed

Roland, the Dark Tower, Hitler and Trump

By Robin Bates | Published: August 26, 2025

Browning’s poem “Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came” captures the fatalism that can come upon countries facing rising fascism.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged “Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came”, Adolph Hitler, Defying Hitler, Donald Trump, Fascism, Robert Browning, Sebastian Haffner, Song of Roland, Trumpism | Comments closed

My Intense Interactions with Lit

By Robin Bates | Published: August 25, 2025

In which I address a set of questions that get at the intensity of the literature reading experience.

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments closed

Sade and Trump’s Sadopopulism

By Robin Bates | Published: August 24, 2025

Fascism experts are describing Trump’s politics as sadopopulism. The Marquis de Sade provides some insights into the dynamics at play.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Donald Trump, Juliette, MAGA, Marquis de Sade, sadopopulism, Timothy Snyder | Comments closed

Lifted and Straightened

By Robin Bates | Published: August 23, 2025

Exploring the Jesus healing story of the woman crippled by a spirit for 18 years, Lory Hess sees it as a call to find the kingdom of god within.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged “Daughter of Abraham", Jesus's healing ministry, Lory Hess | Comments closed

Following the Steps of Haiku Master Basho

By Robin Bates | Published: August 21, 2025

Following the footsteps of Matsuo Basho, the 17th century haiku master.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged haikus, Matsuo Basho, Narrow Road to Oku, Patrick Logan, Tu Fu | Comments closed

Latino Author Battles Caricatures

By Robin Bates | Published: August 20, 2025

Muñoz’s stories in “The Consequences” humanize people that Trump and ICE are seeking to demonize.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Consequences, deportations, ICE, Manuel Muñoz | Comments closed

Questions about the Reading Experience

By Robin Bates | Published: August 19, 2025

In which I continue to answer questions, directed to Barbara Kingsolver, about my reading experiences. Then I come up with some new questions.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged "Tortoise Shout", Barbara Kingsolver, Catcher in the Rye, D. H. Lawrence, Flaubert’s Parrot, Franny and Zooey, George Eliot, Haruki Murakami, J. D. Salinger, Julian Barnes, Lady Chatterley's Lover, Leo Tolstoy, Man Who Died, Middlemarch, My Antonia, War and Peace, Willa Cather, Women in Love | Comments closed

Kingsolver on Life-Changing Lit

By Robin Bates | Published: August 18, 2025

Kingsolver answering questions about the lit that shaped her can get us all reflecting on the importance of books in our lives.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Albert Camus, Barbara Kingsolver, Bean Trees, Cannery Row, Charles Dickens, Children of Violence, Demon Copperhead, Doris Lessing, Harper Lee, Homer, Huckleberry Finn, Iliad, John Steinbeck, Les Misérables, Mark Twain, Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare sonnets, To Kill a Mockingbird, Victor Hugo, William Shakespeare | Comments closed

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