Thomas Mann’s “Doctor Faustus” shows what could happen in the U.S. if we continue to close our hearts to immigrants.
Tag Archives: Doctor Faustus
The Year in GOP Soul Selling
This blog’s “post of the year” compared the GOP’s embrace of Trump to Faustus selling his soul to the devil.
A Literary History of the Insult “Cuck”
“Cuck” has become a favorite insult amongst alt-right types. In today’s post I trace literary references to cuckolds going back to Chaucer.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged alt-right, As You Like It, Canterbury Tales, Christopher Marlowe, Country Wife, cuckold jokes, cuckolds, cuckservatives, Donald Trump, Geoffrey Chaucer, Miller's Tale, Othello, William Shakespeare, William Wycherley Comments closed
Trump’s Faustian Emptiness
Donald Trump has a lot in common with Doctor Faustus: both are narcissists who create hells for themselves by being unable to reach out beyond themselves.
How to Make All Your Fantasies Come True
In high school I learned, from Jacques Offenbach’s opera “Tales of Hoffman,” how to make all my sexual fantasies come true. It took several decades of married life to fully embrace his insight.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Christopher Marlowe, E. T. A. Hoffman, Jacques Offenbach, romantic love, Tales of Hoffman Comments closed
Aristotle Changed the Way Europe Thought
In “Aristotle’s Children,” Richard Rubenstein gets us to rethink the Faith-Reason and Religion-Science splits. When Aristotle revolutionized the High Middle Ages, Church leaders and thinkers tried to reconcile the tensions. Knowing this has me rethinking Marlowe, Shakespeare, and Donne.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Aristotle, Christopher Marlowe, High Middle Ages, John Donne, Plato, scholasticism, William Shakespeare Comments closed
Shakespeare Was Malvolio
Recent research shows how much of a social climber Shakespeare was. The knowledge gives us new insight into characters like Malvolio and Othello.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Christopher Marlowe, Comedy, Jane Austen, social climbing, Twelfth Night, William Shakespeare Comments closed
