Shelley’s “England in 1819” describes George III as “old, mad, blind, despised and dying.” Some of these descriptors apply to Trump.
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Tag Archives: Karl Marx
Heine’s Weavers vs. Trump’s Weave
Trumps explains his growing incoherence as a rhetorical “weave.” German poet Heine provides a response in “The Weavers.”
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Weavers", dementia, Friedrich Engels, Heinrich Heine, Mladen Dolar, revolt, Silesian weavers of 1844 Comments closed
We Need Disturbing Lit If We Are to Grow
If we want literature to improve our lives, often we must read–and teach–works that unsettle.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Bluest Eye, C.S. Lewis, cancel culture, Cat's Eye, censorship, Clansman, Friedrich Engels, Light in August, Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, Lottery, Margaret Atwood, Ruth Franklin, Shirley Jackson, Thomas Dixon, Toni Morrison, William Faulkner Comments closed
An Inspiring Poem for an Inspiring Leader
Kavanagh’s inspiring poem about labor leader Jim Larkin describes a man who got men to think outside of conventional boundaries.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "On the Death of Jim Larkin", George Bernard Shaw, Jim Larkin, Patrick Kavanagh, Socialism Comments closed
Is Kevin McCarthy a Macbeth? Nah
Is Kevin McCarthy like Macbeth? A little bit yes when it comes to ambition but more no.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged All the King's Men, Congress, Kevin McCarthy, Macbeth, Robert Penn Warren, William Shakespeare Comments closed
Poetry Helps Balance Realism & Hope
Poetry not only calls out society’s ills but offers us hope.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Speech to the Young", Audre Lorde, Edwidge Danticat, Gwendolyn Brooks, hope 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, Honoré de Balzac, Robinson Crusoe Comments closed
Why I Think the Way I Think
I survey my intellectual history, especially the evolution of my thinking about literature’s impact on human behavior.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Antonio Gramsci, Beowulf, Carl Jung, Carleton College, Hans Robert Jauss, Harper Lee, Huckleberry Finn, intellectual history, J. Paul Hunter, J. R. R. Tolkien, Jerome Beaty, Literary Theory, Madame Bovary, Mark Twain, New Criticism, Norman Holland, Percy Bysshe Shelley, racism, Reader Response Theory, reception theory, Sigmund Freud, Terry Eagleton, To Kill a Mockingbird, Tobias Smollett Comments closed
Does Lightweight Lit Do Damage?
I look at how thinkers over the centuries have viewed so-called popular or lightweight literature.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Alexander Pope, Dunciad, Feminism, Frankfurt School, Frederick Engels, Herbert Marcuse, Jaws, John Dryden, lightweight literature, Lovers' Vows, Mansfield Park, Northanger Abbey, Percy Shelley, Persuasion, Peter Benchley, Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Terry Eagleton, W.E.B. Du Bois, Wayne Booth Comments closed