The famous scene of Hector and Andromache has given me a new perspective on my father’s fatalism.
Tag Archives: Iliad
On Homer and Rethinking My Father
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged determinism, fatalism, Homer, Kurt Vonnegut, Scott Bates Comments closed
Odysseus’s Authoritarian Power Play
Homer shows the dynamics of authoritarianism at work in an “Iliad” incident where Odysseus disciplines a critic of the Greek mission.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged authoritarianism, Fascism, Homer, John Stoehr, Laughter, police violence, Thomas Hobbes, white supremacy Comments closed
Homer’s Masterclass in Leadership
Homer’s “Iliad” functions as a leadership clinic. So don’t heed Plato’s dismissal of the poet.
The World Will End in Fire AND Ice
With extreme climate, the world in likely to end (to cite Robert Frost) in fire AND ice.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Fire and Ice", "Heat", C. S. Lewis, climate change, extreme weather conditions, Homer, Last Battle, Robert Frost Comments closed
Saving the Classics from Ideologues
A Univ. of Chicago classicist fears the alt-right will appropriate the classics for their own ends.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Aeneid, classics, culture wars, Homer, Odyssey, Virgil Comments closed
The Dangers of Emotional Identification
In which I push back against an article warning about emotional identification with literary characters.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Age of Sensibility, Anne Radcliffe, Goethe, Hannah Arendt, Homer, Jane Austen, Jean Jacques Rousseau, Namwali Serpell, Northanger Abbey, Sense and Sensibility, Sorrows of Young Werther Comments closed
The World Will End in Fire AND Ice
When Frost wrote, “Some say the world will end in fire, some say in ice,” it now appears (judging by Australia and Greenland) that everyone is right.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Fire and Ice", Australian wildfires, C. S. Lewis, climate change, Homer, Last Battle, Robert Frost Comments closed
To Avoid War, Look to The Iliad
As we once again hear war’s drum beat, it’s good to return to “The Iliad” and its vision of peace: the Achilles-Priam truce.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Donald Trump, Homer, Iran, Middle East, oil strike, Saudi Arabia, war Comments closed
