One Super Bowl narrative: Manning as the return of the king. Another narrative: Manning as Laius blocking the way of the next generation. Plus: Belichick-Welker in Oedipal drama.
Tag Archives: Oedipus
Competing Heroic Narratives in Super Bowl
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Bill Belichick, Denver Broncos, Homer, Odyssey, Peyton Manning, Seattle Seahawks, Sophocles, Super Bowl, Wes Welker Comments closed
An Ideal Mother
When I think of a mother-son relationship that most matches my own, I think of Betsy Trotwood and David Copperfield.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Charles Dickens, David Copperfield, Everything that Rises Must Converge, Flannery O'Connor, mothers and sons, Parenting, Philip Roth, Portnoy's Complaint, Sophocles, To the Lighthouse, Virginia Woolf Comments closed
JFK as Ancient Greek Hero
Ancient Greek literature provides us with a power lens through which to examine the John F. Kennedy assassination.
Manziel: Whom the Gods Would Destroy…
Johnny Manziel has “Greek tragic hero” written all over him.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Doctor Faustus, Football, Johnny Manziel, Marlowe, Sophocles, Sports Comments closed
Joe Paterno, a Modern Day Oedipus
The lessons of the Sophocles play “Oedipus” can be applied to disgraced Penn State coach Joe Paterno.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged child molestation, Football, Jerry Sandusky, Joe Paterno, Penn State, Sophocles Comments closed
Roger Clemens, Greek Tragic Hero
Roger Clemens tried to bully his Congressional interrogators the way that Oedipus bullies witnesses. To say that he should have handled himself differently is to say that he should have been a different man.
At 60, a Comfortable Old Scarecrow
Having just turned 60, I’ve been thinking of Teiresias. Wise though the blind seer may be, his advice doesn’t help others that much. Aging, in other words, appears to require humility.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Aging, Bacchae, Carl Jung, Euripides, Homer, Odyssey, Sophocles, T. S. Eliot, Wasteland Comments closed
Do Mistaken Idealists Apologize?
Watch out for political purists and dogmatic idealists. They can do a lot of damage. A writer who delivers this warning is Milan Kundera, a Czech novelist who owes his insights to his experience with communism and the 1968 Soviet invasion. Expect to encounter regular posts from me about Kundera because I am mentoring a […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Communism, Milan Kundera, politics, Sophocles, Unbearable Lightness of Being Comments closed
