Tag Archives: Barbara Kingsolver

The Social Novel Tackles Our Dilemmas

By Robin Bates | Published: September 19, 2023

Maureen Corrigan says the social awareness novel is thriving and gives reasons.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged banning books, Charles Dickens, Demon Copperhead, Elizabeth Gaskell, Herman Diaz, Maureen Corrigan, social awareness novel, trust | Comments closed

Kingsolver Exposes Child Hunger

By Robin Bates | Published: May 21, 2023

In writing about child hunger in “Demon Copperhead,” Kingsolver triggers memories where I saw it as a pre-teen.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged child hunger, child work laws, Demon Copperhead | Comments closed

Some in GOP Love Child Labor

By Robin Bates | Published: March 21, 2023

Some in the GOP want to bring back child labor. Kingsolver, Dickens and Browning weigh in on the subject.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Charles Dickens, child labor, David Copperfield, Demon Copperhead, GOP, Oliver Twist, Sarah Huckabee Sanders | Comments closed

Wanted: Poets to Fight Climate Change

By Robin Bates | Published: December 29, 2021

To understand role poets can play in fighting climate change, go back to the Romantics and especially “Rime of the Ancient Mariner.”

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged climate change, extreme weather events, Margaret Atwood, Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Wendell Berry, William Blake, William Wordsworth | Comments closed

Primal Hatred of Coyotes & Blacks

By Robin Bates | Published: May 12, 2020

In reflecting upon primal race hatred, I find a parallel hatred–of coyotes–in Kingsolver’s novel “Prodigal Summer.”

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged coyotes, immigrants, Prodigal Summer, racism | Comments closed

Nature Lit Has Healed for Centuries

By Robin Bates | Published: December 5, 2017

For years my Intro to Lit class has had a nature theme.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Bacchae, climate change, environmental issues, Euripides, Flight Behavior, John Keats, Leslie Marmon Silko, Lord Byron, Lucille Clifton, Margaret Atwood, Mary Oliver, Midsummer Night's Dream, nature poetry, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Wendell Berry, William Blake, William Shakespeare, William Wordsworth, Year of the Flood | Comments closed

Kingsolver Explains Climate Denial

By Robin Bates | Published: September 6, 2017

Rush Limbaugh has been calling Hurricanes Harvey and Irma liberal conspiracies. In “Flight Behavior,” Barbara Kingsolver shows the dangerous impact of such pronouncements.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged climate change, climate change denial, Flight Behavior, global warming, Rush Limbaugh | Comments closed

To Save Planet, Scientists Must Protest

By Robin Bates | Published: April 25, 2017

Saturday’s March for Science is a sign that scientists are realizing they don’t have the luxury of remaining aloof from politics. Barbara Kingsolver’s “Flight Behavior” explores the issue.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged climate change, Flight Behavior, French Lieutenant's Woman, global warming, John Fowles, science education, Science March | Comments closed

Teaching Euripides in the Age of Title IX

By Robin Bates | Published: February 14, 2017

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.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Alexander Pope, Bacchae, Donald Trump, Euripides, Flight Behavior, Maxine Hong Kingston, Rape of the Lock, Sexism, sexual harassment, Title IX, Woman Warrior | Comments closed