Thursday Today I will be delivering the following talk as part of Sewanee’s Lifelong Learning series, delivered in a venue that used to be my high school and where I spoke 50 years ago. It may sound strange to some of you that a literary scholar such as myself would talk about fantasy. Aren’t we […]
Tag Archives: Beowulf
Fantasy and the Problem of Violence
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Beowulf poet, Carl Jung, fantasy, J. R. R. Tolkien, Joseph Campbell, Lord of the Rings, Sigmund Freud, violence Comments closed
Grendel’s Mother, Archetype of Grief
Thursday I report today on a memorable encounter I had with an African American alum upon my first post-retirement return to St. Mary’s College of Maryland. I was talking with a former colleague when Candace looked in and began reminiscing. I didn’t recognize her, even after she told me her name, but something clicked when […]
Grendel Violence in Sri Lanka
Monday Often, following mass killings such as occurred yesterday in Sri Lanka, I turn to Beowulf since few works understand the horrors of internecine violence so well. Beowulf was already on my mind as friends have been sending me word of new discoveries about the poem, and now we see killer trolls once again on […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Beowulf poet, mass killings, Sri Lankan Easter massacres Comments closed
Pelosi, Mueller vs. Grendel Trump
Monday John Stoehr, who edits The Editorial Board, had a provocative column recently that is worth contemplating on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Stoehr argues that sadism is the animating principle of the Republican Party, with Donald Trump being its purest expression. Whether this is in fact true of most Republicans, Trump himself is certainly […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Beowulf poet, Donald Trump, Nancy Pelosi, resentment, Robert Mueller, Trump shutdown, Trump supporters Comments closed
Read to Resist: An Introduction
Thursday I share today the introduction to my upcoming book, which is still in draft form and whose title I keep changing. Latest title: Read to Resist: Classic Lit Provides Tools for Battling Trump and Trumpism. I’m still not entirely satisfied with that and so will keep tinkering. In any event, here’s my first attempt […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Alexander Pope, Donald Trump, Dunciad, Go Set a Watchman, H. G. Wells, Harper Lee, Invisible Man, John Milton, Leo Tolstoy, Othello, Paradise Lost, To Kill a Mockingbird, Trump resistance, War and Peace, William Shakespeare Comments closed
Wiglaf on Helping Those Who Resist Help
Adolescents often are reluctant to help friends who wish to keep their troubles secret. Teaching “Beowulf” in high school can get at this problem.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged adolescence, friendship, reporting abuse, reporting rules Comments closed
Las Vegas: Our Killers, Ourselves
As a white man, the Las Vegas shooter could not be fitted into an easy right wing Other narrative. “Beowulf” shows how monsters generally look like us.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged destructive anger, Donald Trump, Muslim ban, racism, Stephen Paddock Comments closed
Anger in Ancient Greek Works
A new book looks at how the ancient Greeks approached the issue of anger in works such as “Iliad,” “Ajax,” and “Hecuba.
