Trump empty threats in the middle East are anticipated by Mark Twain in “Connecticut Yankee.” In fact, the novel captures well our adventures in the Middle East.
Tag Archives: Mark Twain
Connecticut Yankee in Northern Syria
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Donald Trump, Kurds, Turkey Comments closed
Which Literary Conman Is Trump?
To understand Trump as conman, I compare him to the King and the Duke, Mac the Knife, Melville’s Confidence Man, Satan & Iago.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Beggar's Opera, Confidence Man, conmen, Donald Trump, Herman Melville, Huckleberry Finn, John Gay, John Milton, Othello, Paradise Lost, William Shakespeare Comments closed
Fantasy Keeps Dreams Alive
Thursday In Monday’s and Tuesday’s posts (see here and here), I laid out the outlines of my first “Wizards and Enchantresses” class, which I’m currently teaching as part of Sewanee’s Lifelong Learning Program. The first class I devoted to Merlin, the second will focus on Morgan Le Fay, the third will take up Shakespeare’s Prospero, […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Alfred Lord Tennyson, Arthurian tales, Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, fantasy, Idylls of the King, J. R. R. Tolkien, Lord of the Rings, Merlin, Once and Future King, Sword in the Stone, T. H. White Comments closed
The Novels that Shaped John McCain
McCain’s favorite novels included “Great Gatsby,” “For Whom the Bell Tolls,” “Huckleberry Finn,” and works by Somerset Maugham. One can understand why.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, For Whom the Bell Tolls, Great Gatsby, Huckleberry Finn, John McCain, Kidnapped, Of Human Bondage, Razor's Edge, Robert Louis Stevenson, Somerset Maugham, Tom Sawyer Comments closed
Pap Would Have Voted for Trump
“Last place aversion” accounts for white resentment of safety net programs. Huck’s father is an example of the process at work.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Huckleberry Finn, last place aversion, Pap, racism, social safety net, status anxiety Comments closed
Lost in a Cave
The scouts rescued from in a flooded cave bring to mind the Tom-Becky story in “Tom Sawyer.”
My “Last Lecture”
I share here my “last lecture” from my retirement ceremony. (But rest assured: I will not be retiring from this blog.)
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Aristotle, Bertolt Brecht, Chinua Achebe, Divine Comedy, Goethe, Heart of Darkness, Horace, Huckleberry Finn, integration, Jane Austen, Joseph Conrad, Martha Nussbaum Wayne Booth, Matthew Arnold, Percy Shelley, Plato, Rachel Blau DuPlessis, Samuel Johnson, segregation, Sir Philip Sydney, Terry Eagleton, W. E. B. Du Bois, Wayne Booth Comments closed
