Tag Archives: Daniel Defoe

Anti-Vaxxers Ignore the Past

Anti-vaxxers should read 19th century novels, which describe high mortality rates

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Think of Work Sweat as “Odorous Oil”

Barrett Browning celebrates work in this sonnet, even as she alludes back to God’s curse on Adam in “Paradise Lost” and Genesis.

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Crusoe and the American Work Ethic

A Pakistani student looks at Americans and notes their obsession with time. One can see that same obsession in Defoe’s “Robinson Crusoe.”

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Marx & Engels on the Usefulness of Lit

Marx and Engels see literature as playing a role in class conflict, just not the major role.

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Plague Lit on Life Returning to Normal

Plague Lit teaches us how people behave DURING plagues. How about how they behave when life returns to normal? Camus may be best on this.

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“Clarissa” Taught the Age Empathy

A new book argues that epistolary novels, especially “Clarissa,” taught the 18th century empathy.

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Post of the Year: Plagues in Literature

A survey of literature through the ages that has dealt with plagues.

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Reading Montaigne While Confined

In “Gentleman in Moscow,” the count turns to “Robinson Crusoe” to figure out how to survive. Reading Montaigne is a mixed bag.

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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.

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