For April Fools’ Day, check out Goldsmith’s “Elegy on the Death of a Mad Dog,” which ends with a wonderful comic reversal. Also for today: war plans group chat from Mordor.
Tag Archives: Nathaniel Hawthorne
An April Fools’ Day Poem
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged April Fool's Day, Elegy on the Death of a Mad Dog, Houthi Group Chat, MAGA Christians, Mark Twain, Oliver Goldsmith, Paula White-Cain, Pete Hegseth, Rappaccini's Daughter Comments closed
A House Member’s Scarlet Letter
Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) recently wore a scarlet letter to work. We explore why.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Abortion, Forced birth movement, House Speaker, Kevin McCarthy, Nancy Mace, Scarlet Letter Comments closed
The Great Books as Assimilation Manual
Phuc Tran’s “Sigh, Gone” describes how great literature helped him negotiate a difficult immigrant experience.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged assimilation, Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoevsky, great books, immigrant experience, immigrants, Phuc Tran, Scarlet Letter, Sigh Gone Comments closed
Hawthorne Explains the Eternal Sin
Hawthorne explores what Jesus means by the “eternal sin” in a number of stories, including “Scarlet Letter.”
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Altar", Christopher Marlowe, Doctor Faustus, eternal sin, Ethan Brand, George Herbert, Man of Adamant, Scarlet Letter, Sin Comments closed
Impeachment and the Scarlet Letter
“The Scarlet Letter” provides several lessons for Trump’s impeachment trial.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Derangement syndrome, Donald Trump, impeachment, John Milton, Paradise Lost, Scarlet Letter Comments closed
Hawthorne Understood Mobs
Hawthorne writes about the kind of mob that invaded the U.S. Capitol in “My Kinsman, Major Molineux.”
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged 2020 election, Donald Trump, GOP, January 6 insurrection, mob rule, My Kinsman Major Molineux Comments closed
To Understand America, Read Gothics
In a course on American supernatural gothic fiction, I argue that Poe pushed back against the Enlightenment and Hawthorne against Puritanism.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Birthmark, Black Cat, Edgar Allan Poe, gothic fiction, Scarlet Letter, Tell-Tale Heart, Young Goodman Brown Comments closed
Will Trump Turn Us into Goodman Brown?
The disillusion of Hawthorne’s Young Goodman Brown may prove to be America’s in a post-Trump world.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged American Dream, Disillusion, Trumpism, Young Goodman Brown Comments closed
Gothics Speak Truth to Denial
Thursday Thursday morning I delivered the following talk to Sewanee’s Rotary Club. I entitled it “America’s Obsession with Gothic Fantasy, from Poe to Game of Thrones. When you hear someone mention gothic fantasy or gothic horror, what American stories, movies or television shows come to mind? Before I let you answer that question, let me […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Black Cat, Edgar Allen Poe, Enlightenment, Flannery O'Connor, Game of Thrones, George Martin, Good Country People, gothic fiction, It, John Winthrop, Stephen King, Tell-Tale Heart, Twilight Zone, Young Goodman Brown Comments closed
