Tag Archives: Franz Kafka

Calvino on Reading the Classics

By Robin Bates | Published: September 17, 2019

In a famous essay, Calvino gives us multiple reasons to read the classics.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Why Read the Classics", classics, Emil Cioran, Homer, Italo Calvino, Odyssey | Comments closed

Kafkaesque & Other Common Lit Allusions

By Robin Bates | Published: June 18, 2019

Wednesday In a recent Literary Hub article, Emily Temple honors the 95th anniversary of Franz Kafka’s death (June 3, 1924) with a list of times she has encountered the media calling something Kafkaesque. As is often the case in such matters, the term has been much abused, but that shouldn’t make us any the less […]

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Kafkaesque, literary allusions | Comments closed

Kafka Explains Barr’s Mueller Report

By Robin Bates | Published: March 26, 2019

Wednesday In Monday’s essay I suggested Kafka could help Americans negotiate the apparent bad news they are getting from Attorney General William Barr’s summation of the Mueller Report. While (according to Barr) the report did not exonerate the Trump campaign for covering up its relations with Russia when it interfered in the 2016 election, it […]

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged William Barr | Comments closed

Which Narrative Fits Mueller’s Report?

By Robin Bates | Published: March 24, 2019

Monday Two weeks ago I had an interesting interchange with reader Josh Grumet about which narrative would emerge once Robert Mueller submitted his report. While I said that liberals and NeverTrumpers were rooting for a Sherlock Holmes ending, I feared we would end up with a Samuel Beckett non-conclusion. Josh, meanwhile, compared Trump supporters to […]

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Alexander Dumas, Count of Monte Cristo, Donald Trump, Endgame, Mueller Report, Oxbow Incident, Russian Collusion, Samuel Beckett, Trial, Walter Clark, William Barr | Comments closed

Lit Comforts an ALS Sufferer

By Robin Bates | Published: June 23, 2017

This past March an ALS sufferer spoke eloquently, shortly before her death, about how she turned to Sophocles, Kafka, and Shakespeare for comfort.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged ALS, death and dying, Hamlet, Lynette Williamson, Metamorphosis, Oedipus, Sophocles, William Shakespeare | Comments closed

Why It’s Good To Offend Students

By Robin Bates | Published: September 1, 2015

An entering Duke student has refused to read Alison Bechdel’s “Fun House.” A professor comes partially to his defense.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Burning of the Books", Alison Bechdel, Bertolt Brecht, censorship, college life, freshman orientation, Fun House, homosexuality, reader response | Comments closed

Kafka’s K Would Feel at Home with FISA

By Robin Bates | Published: May 27, 2015

A “Washington Post” quiz comparing Franz Kafka’s “The Trial” with the United Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court comes up with some disturbing resemblances.