Towles’s “Gentleman in Moscow” is filled with allusions to Russian poets and fiction writers.
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Tag Archives: Leo Tolstoy
Russian Lit and Moscow’s Gentleman
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Amoer Towles, Anton Chekhov, Gentleman in Moscow, Maxjm Gorky, Mayakovsky, Russian literature Comments closed
Tolstoy on Suicidal Cult Followers
Why do so many Trump supporters deliberately court coronavirus? Why do Napoleon’s soldiers in “War and Peace” throw themselves into a river to impress him.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged coronavirus protests, COVID-19, Donald Trump, Gov. Whitmer, settle in place orders, War and Peace Comments closed
Brown’s Populism Comes from Tolstoy
Friday While I don’t yet know whom I will be supporting for the 2020 Democratic nominee for president—I very much like the women who have declared so far—I have a soft spot for Ohio’s Sherrod Brown. Brown, whose working class sympathies helped him comfortably win reelection in a red state, just made his case stronger […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged 2020 election, Resurrection, Sherrod Brown, Working class Comments closed
H. W. Bush’s “War and Peace” Lessons
“War and Peace” was the late H. W. Bush’s favorite novel. Perhaps he imitated Gen. Kutuzov by withdrawing from Iraq after winning.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush, Iraq War, Persian Gulf War, Saddam Hussein, War and Peace Comments closed
Read to Resist: An Introduction
Thursday I share today the introduction to my upcoming book, which is still in draft form and whose title I keep changing. Latest title: Read to Resist: Classic Lit Provides Tools for Battling Trump and Trumpism. I’m still not entirely satisfied with that and so will keep tinkering. In any event, here’s my first attempt […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Alexander Pope, Beowulf, Donald Trump, Dunciad, Go Set a Watchman, H. G. Wells, Harper Lee, Invisible Man, John Milton, Othello, Paradise Lost, To Kill a Mockingbird, Trump resistance, War and Peace, William Shakespeare Comments closed
“Anna Karenina” Saves a Prisoner’s Life
In an inspiring podcast, “Rough Translation” recounts how “Anna Karenina,” tapped out in morse code, saved a Somali political prisoner from madness.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Anna Karenina, books in prison, imprisonment, Somalia Comments closed
Tolstoy: For Happiness, Love & Sacrifice
In “The Cossacks,” a dissipated young man finds spiritual meaning when he journeys to the Caucasus.
Tolstoy’s Love Affair with Mosquitoes
Abhorrent though mosquitoes are to me, Tolstoy finds a way to live with them and even arrive at existential insights.
How Tolstoy Would Judge Jeff Sessions
Leo Tolstoy, who calls out public officials who abuse the public trust, would have choice words for the American attorney general.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Jeffrey Beauregard Sessions, public corruption, Resurrection Comments closed