The late Kundera has fascinating insights into how the novel has intersected with history.
Tag Archives: Honoré de Balzac
History’s Arc Bends Towards Kafka
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Art of the Novel, authoritarianism, Castle, Don Quixote, Franz Kafka, Gustave Flaubert, Jane Austen, Madame Bovary, Miguel de Cervantes, Milan Kundera, sexuality, Slowness, Trial Comments closed
Marx & Engels on the Usefulness of Lit
Marx and Engels see literature as playing a role in class conflict, just not the major role.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Daniel Defoe, Friedrich Engels, Karl Marx, Robinson Crusoe Comments closed
Balzac Invented the 19th Century?!
According to Peter Brooks, we should all revisit Balzac, who (according to Oscar Wilde) invented the 19th century.
On Using Lit as a Cudgel
Monday A conservative reader the other day accused me of relentlessly using this blog as “an anti-Trump cudgel,” which got me thinking about whether I was indeed guilty of losing perspective. Was I in the grip of what Balzac calls an “idée fixe”—which is to say, an obsession that defines a life? According to Encyclopedia […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Asterix, culture wars, Gobseck, idée fixe, multiculturalism Comments closed
Balzac’s Gobseck Understands Trump
Balzac’s dazzling novella “Gobseck” finds the measure of the Trumps and other billionaires who sell out the nation.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged debt, Donald Trump, Gobseck, greed, national debt, other people's money Comments closed
Can Lit Make the Rich More Empathetic?
With growing income disparity comes a decline in empathy. Literature can help rebuild our compassion.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Clansmen, empathy, Income inequality, Jonathan Swift, Thomas Dixon, Thomas Pinker, violence Comments closed
Why the Wealthy Get Wealthier
Thomas Piketty turns to Jane Austen and Honoré de Balzac to analyze “Capitalism in the 21st Century.”
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Capital in the 21st Century, Economics, Henry James, Jane Austen, Orhan Pamuk, Pere Goriot, snow, Thomas Piketty, Washington Square Comments closed
Stephen Strasburg as a Balzac Parable
The strange case of Stephen Strasburg–missing the playoffs if he exceeds his innings pitched limit–has parallels with the Balzac novel “The Magic Skin.”
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Baseball, Bernard Malamud, Magic Skin, Natural, Peau de Chagrin, Sports, Stephen Strasburg Comments closed
