In which I examine disruptive desire in 12th Night, Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Romeo and Juliet.
Tag Archives: Comedy
Disruptive Desire in Shakespeare
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged gender bending, Midsummer Night's Dream, Romeo and Juliet, sexuality, tragedy, William Shakespeare Comments closed
Laughter in the Presidential Campaign
Trump and Vance’s jokes are designed to beat down, not include. They elicit Hobbesian laughter, not Shaftesburian.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged blood libel, Caite Upton, Donald Trump, Henry Fielding, Kamala Harris, Laughter, Leviathan, Mel Brooks, mysogeny, Tom Jones Comments closed
Rom-Coms, Defense against Heartbreak
One way of seeing “Tom Jones” is as “valentine armor,” alternating between romance and light satire. As such, it saves us from broken hearts.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Don Quixote, Henry Fielding, Miguel de Cervantes, Pamela, Romantic Comedy, Samuel Richardson, Shamela, Tom Jones Comments closed
Humorless Twitter Boss as Malvolio
Elon Musk sparring with his Twitter critics is like Shakespeare’s Malvolio going after Feste.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Elon Musk, parody, Twelfth Night, twitter, William Shakespeare Comments closed
Read “12th Night” for Relationship Advice
In their essays on “Twelfth Night,” my students showed they are hungry for authentic relationships.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Relationships, student essays, Twelfth Night, William Shakespeare Comments closed
A Bakhtinian Reading of Zelenskyy
To understand Ukraine’s Zelensky, Adam Gopnik applies the theories of Mikhail Bakhtin.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Adam Gopnik, Gargantua and Pantagruel, Rabelais, Ukraine invasion, Volodymyr Zelensky Comments closed
Desire vs. Law in Shakespeare, Euripides
If a play turns comic or tragic often depends how how the clash between law and desire is negotiated.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Bacchae, Desire, Euripides, law, Midsummer Night's Dream, tragedy, William Shakespeare Comments closed
Comic Haikus Launch 2020 Election
Thursday Jason Gilbert, a producer at Comedy Central, has written a series of superb haikus on the Democratic presidential candidates, twenty of whom are splitting last night and tonight for the season’s first debate. As often with political comedy, it’s funniest when someone else’s ox is getting gored. Nevertheless, we need to laugh at our […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Democratic presidential candidates, haikus, Jason Gilbert Comments closed
How Moliere Is Saving France
Moliere is helping French PM Macron steer a sane middle road between rightwing and leftwing purists.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Emmanuel Macron, Mark Twain, Misanthrope, Moliere, politics, social comedy Comments closed
