Tuesday So now Donald Trump, after ramping up war talk with Iran, is magnanimously claiming to be a moderate by calling off his airstrike. Killing 150 Iranians, he tells us, would be a disproportionate response to the downing of an American drone. This time he’s right. Less excusable is that he got us into the […]
Tag Archives: Gulliver's Travels
Gulliver in Trumpland
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Donald Trump, Gulliver's Travels, Iran, Iranian nuclear deal, Jonathan Swift Comments closed
Swift on the Separation of Powers
Wednesday As Donald Trump seeks to neuter Congress while at the same time welcoming autocrats to the White House, we find ourselves praying that Democrats, NeverTrumpers, and others who love our Constitution can successfully push back. It’s a battle we see dramatized in Gulliver’s account of the flying island. The executive power in this instance […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged constitutional crisis, Donald Trump, Gulliver's Travels, Jonathan Swift, separation of powers Comments closed
Swift’s Popularity with Today’s Students
Students crowded into the gym to listen to the publisher of “The Onion.” It is therefore not surprising that they are also responding enthusiastically to Jonathan Swift. I share some of their thoughts on the satirist in today’s post.
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Gulliver, Recommended for Scientists
Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson’s favorite book to recommend is not a book of science but Jonathan Swift’s “Gulliver’s Travels.” This shows him to be a very wise man.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Gulliver's Travels, immortality, Jonathan Swift, living forever, Science, scientists Comments closed
If Swift Had Known Donald Trump…
Jonathan Swift would have had a field day with Donald Trump. I suspect I’ll say this often in the upcoming years.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Donald Trump, Gulliver's Travels, Hillary Clinton, Jonathan Swift, Modest Proposal, politics Comments closed
The Rich Complain about Shaming
Some wealthy Americans are receiving therapy to make them feel better about their riches. Swift would have something to say about this, as would F. Scott Fitzgerald and Lady Mary Wortley Montagu.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Epistle from Mrs. Yonge to Her Hustand", F. Scott Fitzgerald, Gulliver's Travels, Jonathan Swift, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, one percent, Rich Boy, Therapy, wealth inequality Comments closed
Trump, Prince Vasili, and Pure Cynicism
Prince Vasili in “War and Peace” will say anything to come out on top. He’s a lot like Donald Trump.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Donald Trump, Gulliver's Travels, Hillary Clinton, Jonathan Swift, Leo Tolstoy, Marco Rubio, politicians, politics, War and Peace Comments closed
Can Lit Help Build an Egalitarian World?
Neo-Marxist literary theory calls for us to see literature as relevant to building an egalitarian society.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Frederic Jameson, Gulliver's Travels, Jonathan Swift, Literary Theory, Literary Theory: An Introduction, Terry Eagleton Comments closed
Trump as Frankenstein’s Monster
What is it about Donald Trump that brings out the literary analogies? First a Salon columnist compared him to Odysseus’s Cyclops, then the New Yorker’s John Cassidy saw him as Gulliver, and most recently Rachel Maddow of MSNBC and others have compared him to Frankenstein’s monster. I’ve written about the Cyclops parallel here, but let’s take […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Donald Trump, Frankenstein, GOP, Gulliver's Travels, Jonathan Swift, Mary Shelley, politics Comments closed
