In which I sort out my mixed feelings about satire.
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Tag Archives: Alexander Pope
“Better Living” Emerged from a Midnight Epiphany
In the latest installment of “A Life Lived in Literature,” I recount the origins of “Better Living through Beowulf.”
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Benjamin Franklin, blogging, Daniel Defoe, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Geoffrey Chaucer, Great Gatsby, Jane Austen, Poor Richard’s Almanack, Pride and Prejudice, Rape of the Lock, Robinson Crusoe, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Wife of Bath Comments closed
GOP Veepstakes and Pope’s Dunciad
The current candidates for Trump’s V-P are behaving like Alexander Pope’s dunces.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged 1984, Donald Trump, Dunciad, George Orwell, GOP Veepstakes, J.D. Vance, Marco Rubio Comments closed
The Gender Battle in Pope’s Card Game
In which I share a talk I am giving on the card game played in “Rape of the Lock.”
Good Company, Rich Conversations
As we visit with old friends in Slovenia, I think of how Jane Austen’s Anne Elliot values “good company.”
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Essay on Criticism, friends, Jane Austen, Persuasion, Slovenia Comments closed
Rightwing Educators & Pope’s Dunces
Rightwing parent groups and legislators want authoritarian teachers who teach their truth. They want Bentley from Pope’s “Dunciad.”
Eternally Damned after Reading a Book
In which I compare Austen’s Marianne and Willoughby to Dante’s Paulo and Francesca.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Castaway", "Task", Dante, Desire, Essay on Man, Inferno, James Thomson, Jane Austen, Relationships, Seasons, Sense and Sensibility, Sir Walter Scott, William Cowper Comments closed
Does Lightweight Lit Do Damage?
I look at how thinkers over the centuries have viewed so-called popular or lightweight literature.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Dunciad, Feminism, Frankfurt School, Frederick Engels, Herbert Marcuse, Jaws, John Dryden, Karl Marx, lightweight literature, Lovers' Vows, Mansfield Park, Northanger Abbey, Percy Shelley, Persuasion, Peter Benchley, Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Terry Eagleton, W.E.B. Du Bois, Wayne Booth Comments closed
Despite Trump, the Rivers Kept Speaking
Jane Hirshfield’s “Fifth Day,” written five days into the Trump administration, capture the president’s war against science and the environment.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Fifth Day", Dunciad, Ella Wheeler Wilcox, Environment, Jane Hirshfield, Rachel Carson, Silent Spring Comments closed