A Univ. of Chicago classicist fears the alt-right will appropriate the classics for their own ends.
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Tag Archives: Aeneid
Saving the Classics from Ideologues
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged classics, culture wars, Homer, Iliad, Odyssey, Virgil Comments closed
Post of the Year: Plagues in Literature
A survey of literature through the ages that has dealt with plagues.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Albert Camus, COVID-19, Daniel Defoe, Emily St. John Mandel, Journal of the Plague Year, Katherine Anne Porter, Louise Erdrich, Margaret Atwood, Oedipus, Oryk and Crake, Pale Horse Pale Rider, plague, Sophocles, Stand, Station Eleven, Stephen King, Tracks, Virgil Comments closed
Apocalyptic Fire Ravages the Nation
For literary equivalents of the west coast fires, look to “The Aeneid” and to Vasily Grossman’s “Life and Fate.”
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged California wildfires, climate change, extreme weather, Life and Fate, Oregon wildfires, Vasily Grossman, Virgil Comments closed
In a Dark Time, Beowulf Was My Virgil
If Dante had his Virgil, I have Beowulf. Both poets helped up negotiate dark times.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Beowulf, Beowulf poet, Dante, Divine Comedy, grief and grieving, Virgil Comments closed
Better Living through Virgil
When lost in deep depression, Dante turns to his favorite author, Virgil, to help him out.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Christopher Marlowe, Dante, Divine Comedy, Doctor Faustus, Virgil Comments closed
In Aeneid, It’s the Wives Who Riot
The riots in the wake of George Floyd’s death recall for me the wives rioting in the Aeneid–another neglected and long-suffering group who are fed up.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged George Floyd, Minneapolis riots, police brutality, racism, Virgil Comments closed
A Literary Survey of What Plagues Mean
A survey of how literary authors have grappled for meaning in times of pestilence bolsters our own search. I look at Sophocles, Virgil, Defoe, Porter, Camus, King, Mandel, Atwood, and Erdrich.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Albert Camus, COVID-19, Daniel Defoe, Emily St. John Mandel, Journal of the Plague Year, Katherine Anne Porter, Louise Erdrich, Margaret Atwood, Oedipus, Oryk and Crake, Pale Horse Pale Rider, Pestilence, plague, Sophocles, Stand, Station Eleven, Stephen King, Tracks, Virgil Comments closed
Homer, Virgil & Dante Visit the Afterlife
In my Representative Masterpieces course, I conclude with Dante’s “Inferno,” where we see sinners creating their own hells.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Beowulf, Dante, Divine Comedy, Homer, Inferno, John Bunyan, John Milton, monsters, Odyssey, Paradise Lost, Pilgrim's Progress, Sin, Virgil Comments closed
Biden vs. Bernie, Aeneas vs. Turnus
To apply a classic allusion to the Democratic primaries, think of Joe Biden as Aeneas and Bernie Sanders as his foe Turnus. Aeneas wins the battle, Turnus the war.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Bernie Sanders, Democratic primaries, Joe Biden, Virgil Comments closed