America’s bloody beginnings are part of who we still are.
Tag Archives: Heart of Darkness
America’s Heart of Darkness Beginnings
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Colonia America, colonization, Joseph Conrad, U. S. history, violence, Wayne Karlin, Wished For Country Comments closed
Sweethearts Now Cleared for Combat
Tim O’Brien’s Vietnam War story about a woman who goes rogue has things to teach us about the recent suspension of the Pentagon ban on women in combat.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged crimes against humanity, Joseph Conrad, Things They Carried, Tim O'Brien, war, women in combat Comments closed
Armstrong’s Heart of Darkness
One our ideal, Lance Armstrong has proved to be more like Kurtz in “Heart of Darkness.”
Dirty Work = Heart of Darkness
In “Heart of Darkness,” Joseph Conrad indirectly teaches us that doing work that contributes to human misery will take a toll, however much we try to focus just on the work.
Twain Was No Racist (Not Even Close)
“I hope that like Mark Twain, 100 years from now people will see my work and think, ‘Wow. That is actually pretty racist.’” –Tina Fey accepting the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor Thanks to a visiting lecturer in our Mark Twain series, I have a new understanding of Huckleberry Finn that is exciting me […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Huckleberry Finn, Joseph Conrad, Mark Twain, racism, segregation Comments closed
A Tribute to the Workers of the World
Here’s a special Labor Day post for the workers of the world—those who have jobs and those who don’t, those who are overworked and those who are underemployed, those who are treated fairly and those who are exploited, those who are just starting out and those who have been working for a long time, those […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Working Girls", Carl Sandburg, Joseph Conrad, Work Comments closed
Shaw Cuts through the Bull
Last night I gave a short lecture and then moderated a talkback following a college production of George Bernard Shaw’s play Arms and the Man (1894), directed by my colleague Michael Ellis-Tolaydo. I hadn’t read the play since I was in high school, when I went on a Shaw kick. (I first became enamored with […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged adolescence, Arms and the Man, George Bernard Shaw, Joseph Conrad Comments closed
Trusting that Good Can Come from Ill
Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus What have I learned about literature and pain this past week? First, that writers have taken up the topic, just as they take up every aspect of human existence. They imagine what it is like to feel pain and, through poetic images and fictional stories, convey that experience to readers. By entering […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Alfred Lord Tennyson, Christopher Marlowe, death of a child, Death of Ivan Ilych, Doctor Faustus, In Memoriam, John Milton, Joseph Conrad, Leo Tolstoy, Name of the Rose, Pain, Paradise Lost, Rachel Kranz, Suffering, Umberto Eco Comments closed
