Tag Archives: Merchant's Tale

Seashells and Widow Jokes?!

Kimmel’s joke about Melania Trump, for which she is attacking him, has precedents in Chaucer, John Gay, and Wilde. Stephens’s poem “The Shell,” meanwhile, captures the travesty of the DoJ vs. Comey.

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Chaucer & a Trump-Enabling GOP

For a story that captures GOP readiness to believe all that Trump says, there’s Chaucer’s “Merchant’s Tale.”

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Is Old Age Becoming Overrated?

A “New Yorker” article on aging turns to literature to debunk the notion that aging is a good thing.

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The V-Word: Casting Hillary as Duessa

The rightwing attacks on female sexuality have a long tradition, going back to Pliny the Elder, and include Chaucer, Spenser, and Milton. Expect the tradition to continue if Hillary Clinton is elected president.

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