Tag Archives: Carl Jung

Understanding Murikami’s 1Q84

In which I explore the theme of toxic masculinity in Murakami’s “1Q84.”

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Halloween: “Purring in My Haunted Ear”

For Halloween, here’s one of the scariest poems that I know. In it, Robert Graves recalls a childhood nightmare after he was wounded in World War I.

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The Meaning of Trump’s Shark Fears

Trump’s anxiety about sharks can be understood through an examination of “Jaws.”

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On Lear and Turning 73

Poet David Wright finds retirement lessons in “King Lear.” And aging lessons as well.

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Why I Think the Way I Think

I survey my intellectual history, especially the evolution of my thinking about literature’s impact on human behavior.

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Overcoming the Siren Call of Domination

A reader suggests that the island enchantresses in “Odyssey” help the hero in his quest for integration.

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Fantasy and the Problem of Violence

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 […]

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The Journey of the Reader Hero

Reading literature can be compared to Joseph Campbell’s “Journey of the Hero.”

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“Harry, I Am Your Father” – Voldemort

Voldemort can be interpreted as the father in Harry Potter’s primal scene.

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