Friday High school teacher Carl Rosin, whose Great Expectations class interviewed me by telephone yesterday, suggested that Donald Trump’s national shutdown is giving us our own versions of Dickens’s “toadies and humbugs.” For a while I’ve seen Vice President Michael Pence as candidate #1, but I must say that South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham is […]
Tag Archives: Charles Dickens
Lindsey Graham as a Dickens Toady
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Donald Trump, Great Expectations, Lindsey Graham, National shutdown, Trump's wall Comments closed
What Lit Is Good For–A Debate
Thursday Tim Parks has written a provocative essay for The New York Review of Books, asking, Is literature wise? In the sense, does it help us to live? And if not, what exactly is it good for? If you follow this blog, you already know my answers: –Yes, literature is wiser than we are (and […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Herbert Marcuse, King Lear, Little Dorrit, Madame Bovary, Tempest, William Shakespeare Comments closed
Trump Policy Is Oliver Twist Redux
Dickens would have a field day with the Trump administration’s decision to separate children from their families.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged immigrant children separation, Oliver Twist, social safety net, work requirements Comments closed
A Tale of Two Realities
The U.S. celebrating the opening of the Jerusalem embassy while Israeli soldier kill scores of Gaza protesters bring to mind Dickens’s “Tale of Two Cities.”
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Donald Trump, Gaza protests, Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushhner, Jerusalem embassy, Tale of Two Cities Comments closed
Mike Pence=Elmer Gantry + Uriah Heep
Columnist George Will calls Mike Pence a cross between Elmer Gantry and Uriah Heep. I see the two and raise to a Dante sycophant and Shakespeare’s Cassius.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Dante, David Copperfield, Elmer Gantry, Inferno, Julius Caesar, Mike Pence, Sinclair Lewis, William Shakespeare Comments closed
Literature Has Paul Ryan’s Number
Lewis Carroll, Charles Dickens, Chinua Achebe, John Milton, and Thomas Hardy see through men like departing Speaker of the House Paul Ryan.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "How Doth the Little Crocodile", Alice in Wonderland, Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand, Chinua Achebe, Hard Times, John Milton, Lewis Carroll, Oliver Twist, Paradise Lost, Paul Ryan politics, Tess of the D'Urbervilles, Things Fall Apart, Thomas Hardy Comments closed
No Miss Havisham for Hillary
In her account of the 2016 election aftermath, Hillary Clinton resolved not to become a Miss Havisham. This is testimony to her depth of soul.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Donald Trump, Great Expectations, Hillary Clinton, Miss Havisham Comments closed
Trump as Miss Havisham
Frank Bruni compares Donald Trump to Miss Havisham, forever fixated on November 8 before the rose lost its bloom. The GOP would do well to break free as Pip does.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Donald Trump, GOP, Great Expectations, Hillary Clinton, politics Comments closed
Democrats Have Dickens, GOP Ayn Rand
We see the hand of Ayn Rand in Trump’s proposed budget cuts. Charles Dickens would understand what’s going on.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Any Rand, Atlas Shrugged, budget cuts, Christmas Carol, Donald Trump, Fountainhead, Paul Ryan Comments closed
