Tag Archives: Bacchae

Calling Out Trump’s Assault on Nature

Look to Euripides’s “The Bacchae” if you want to know how a divine seer would call out Donald Trump for his assault on the environment. Teiresias says that Pentheus is “possessed by madness so perverse, no drug can cure.”

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Climate Change, Fairies Fighting

Some of the extreme climate events we are currently experiencing are described in “Midsummer Night’s Dream,” where they are the result of fairy infighting

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Teaching Euripides in the Age of Title IX

Recently a student reported me for using sexist language in the classroom. (This while teaching a Kingsolver novel and Euripides’s “The Bacchae.”) The language did not reflect my own views, but the complaint made me realize that I need to be more careful with this generation of students.

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Euripides Explains Anti-LGBTQ Votes

The North Carolina state legislature recently passed anti-LBGTQ legislation which, among other things, forbids transgender individuals from using the bathrooms of their chosen gender identity. Euripides provides some insight into hostility against crossdressers in “The Bacchae.”

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Justice Scalia, Blind Like Pentheus

Scalia attacking his fellow SCOTUS justices sounds like Pentheus excoriating Teiresias and Cadmus in “The Bacchae.” Unlike Scalia’s fellow justices, Teiresias gives as good as he gets.

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Worshipping the Gods of Fermented Fruit

The way Peruvian farmers use corn be gives insight into Teiresias’ encomium on wine in Euripides’ “The Bacchae.”

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Jesus as the New Dionysus

Parallels between Dionysus and Christ are clearly drawn in Michael Cacoyannis’s translation of “The Bacchae.”

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How Fantasy Saves Our Souls

Great fantasy can always be seen as oppositional, pushing against prevailing modes of thought and opening up portals into new human possibilities.

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The Peace of Wild Things

My Intro to Literature class explored how a disconnect from nature leads to existential anguish while opening themselves up to nature provides spiritual nourishment.

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