Donald Trump is a disaster but, as Thomas Hardy reminds us, life goes on even during disasters. As bad as Trump is, he’s not comparable to World War I, the subject of Hardy’s poem.
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Tag Archives: Donald Trump
Even in Bad Times, Life Goes On
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "In Time of the Breaking of Nations", Thomas Hardy, war Comments closed
The Grand Inquisitor Was Right
To understand Donald Trump’s stunning victory, turn to Dostoevsky’s Grand Inquisitor. The lure of an authoritarian leader and the challenges of a pluralistic and multicultural society can be found in Ivan Karamazov’s parable.
Shakespeare Understood Trumpism
According to Adam Gopnik, Shakespeare would have understood the rise of Donald Trump better than we do today. Whereas we see him as a historical oddity, Shakespeare would have seen him as the kind of evil that has always resided within humankind.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged 2016 presidential election, Adam Gopnik, As You Like It, Hamlet, Henry V, Hillary Clinton, King Lear, Macbeth, Merchant of Venice, Richard III, Tempest, Troilus and Cressida, Twelfth Night, William Shakespeare Comments closed
Trump, Murakami, and Our Dark Selves
Donald Trump’s ability to tap into a deep American rage is the source of his power. In “Wind-Up Bird Chronicle,” Haruki Murakami, seeking to understand the resurgence of rightwing Japanese nationalism, has a Trump-like character who accesses a slimy substance within modern Japan.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Harumki Murakami, neo-fascism, Wind-Up Bird Chronicle Comments closed
Toni Morrison Explains Hillary Hatred
The rage against Hillary Clinton is probably the result of primal male fears. Toni Morrison captures such male fear and rage in her novel “Paradise.”
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged 2016 presidential election, Hillary Clinton, misogyny, Paradise, Toni Morrison Comments closed
Oppression’s Walls Will Have To Go
Langston Hughes’s poem “I Look at the World” describes a coming to consciousness of the walls that fence us in. Once we acknowledge the walls, we can begin seeing our way through them.
Trump, Macduff, and “Untimely Ripped”
Donald Trump’s characterization of late-term abortions as “ripping” harken back to a verb used in “Macbeth.” Most people, however, would argue that both Trump and Macduff are describing caesarians.
#TrumpBookReports (in 140 characters)
For laughs, check out #TrumpBookReport on twitter. I’ve gathered some of the best renditions of Trump reviewing the classics.