Why do so many Trump supporters deliberately court coronavirus? Why do Napoleon’s soldiers in “War and Peace” throw themselves into a river to impress him.
Tag Archives: COVID-19
Tolstoy on Suicidal Cult Followers
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged coronavirus protests, Donald Trump, Gov. Whitmer, Leo Tolstoy, settle in place orders, War and Peace Comments closed
During Covid, Workers Must Unite
On this International Workers’ Day, frontline workers are bearing the brunt on Covid-19 and public sector workers may not be far behind. Time for Shelley’s “To the Working Men of England.”
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Song to Men of England", Jungle, May Day, meat packers, Percy Shelley, Upton Sinclair, Working class Comments closed
Mrs. Dalloway as Pandemic Novel?!
Woolf’s “Mrs. Dalloway” may have been shaped by the 1918 pandemic, even though the illness is barely mentioned.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged 1918 flu epidemic, Mrs. Dalloway, Virginia Woolf Comments closed
Sci-Fi Provides Pandemic Guidance
Our society is currently split on the value of scientific expertise. That split goes back at least as far as Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein.”
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Andromeda Strain, Anthony Fauci, Donald Trump, Frankenstein, Last Man, Margaret Atwood, Mary Shelley, Michael Crichton, Oryx and Crake, pandemics, science fiction, Stand, Stephen King Comments closed
A Literary Survey of What Plagues Mean
A survey of how literary authors have grappled for meaning in times of pestilence bolsters our own search. I look at Sophocles, Virgil, Defoe, Porter, Camus, King, Mandel, Atwood, and Erdrich.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Aeneid, Albert Camus, Daniel Defoe, Emily St. John Mandel, Journal of the Plague Year, Katherine Anne Porter, Louise Erdrich, Margaret Atwood, Oedipus, Oryk and Crake, Pale Horse Pale Rider, Pestilence, plague, Sophocles, Stand, Station Eleven, Stephen King, Tracks, Virgil Comments closed
Church Attendance in Plague Times
Defoe in “Journal of the Plague Year” captures people’s need for church in plague times.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged church attendance, Daniel Defoe, Journal of the Plague Year, worship services Comments closed
Trump Is Captain Queeg, Not Bligh
Trump apparently sees himself as Captain Bligh. Try Captain Queeg instead. Or the captain in a recent Dave Eggers comic novel.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Andrew Cuomo, Caine Mutiny, Captain and the Glory, Dave Eggers, Donald Trump, Herman Wouk, Mutiny on the Bounty Comments closed
Neruda: Let’s All Stop for a Moment
In “Keeping Quiet,” Neruda offers us a powerful challenge in the face of the world’s horrors: what if the entire world were to observe a moment of stillness?
Trump & COVID? Think Ministry of Magic
Trump dealing with COVID-19 can be compared to the Ministry of Magic trying to deal with Voldemort.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Donald Trump, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, J.K. Rowling Comments closed
