My book “Better Living through Lit” this past year was only one of several making the case that literature can be social dynamite.
Tag Archives: Plato
Lit Packs a Powerful Punch
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Beloved, Ben Jonson, Better Living through Literature, book bans, Christopher Marlowe, Dangerous Fictions, Harold Bloom, Hesiod, Homer, Iliad, Lyta Gold, Odyssey, Oscar Wilde, Picture of Dorian Gray, Toni Morrison, William Shakespeare Comments closed
And Took from Thence a Rib
In “Paradise Lost,” Milton does interesting things with Adam’s rib and the creation of Eve.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Fall, Genesis creation story, John Milton, John Wilmot, Paradise Lost, patriarchy, Symposium Comments closed
Why Books Banned? They Change Lives
Good lit can function like social dynamite, but it’s dynamite that’s needed for growth. Parents against growth therefore attempt to ban them.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged banned books week, Beloved, book bans, censorship, Homer, Odyssey, Toni Morrison, Twelfth Night, William Shakespeare Comments closed
Why Fiction Terrifies People
I announce my forthcoming book and contrast it with a similar book–“Dangerous Fictions”–coming out soon.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Beloved, Ben Jonson, Better Living through Literature, book bans, Christopher Marlowe, Dangerous Fictions, Harold Bloom, Hesiod, Homer, Iliad, Lyta Gold, Odyssey, Oscar Wilde, Picture of Dorian Gray, Toni Morrison, William Shakespeare Comments closed
Self-Satire’s Medicinal Properties
In “Wonderworks,” Fletcher contends that self-satire helped Socrates deal with death.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Angus Fletcher, death of Socrates, Douglas Adams, fear of death, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Irony, Phaedo, satire, Socrates, Wonderworks Comments closed
St. Francis: Made for Beauty
St. Francis radically changed the way we see beauty and ourselves in relationship to beauty.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "As Kingfishers Catch Fire", "Francis Meets a Leper", "Saint Francis and the Birds", "St. Clare Dies at Her Mirror", "St. Francis and the Sow, Bonaventure, Clare, Dante, David Citino, Duns Scotus, Galway Kinnell, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Life of a Saint: After Giotto, Marilyn Nelson, Murray Bodo, Paradiso, Seamus Heaney, St. Francis, Thomas of Celano Comments closed
The Light Brigade’s Charge & Wagner’s
Does “Charge of the Light Brigade” glamorize senseless sacrifice. What would Russian soldiers in Ukraine think?
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Charge of the Light Brigade", Alfred Lord Tennyson, Crimean War, Republic, Ukraine invasion, Vladimir Putin, Wagner mercenary group, war Comments closed
God Reaches Us through Art
I share a talk about the relationship between God and creativity. Authors mentioned: Shelley, Homer, Plato, Silko, Walker, Clifton.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Ode to the West Wind", "the light that came to lucille clifton", Alice Walker, Artist's Way, Ceremony, Color Purple, Creativity, Homer, Intimations of Immortality, Ion, John Milton, Julia Cameron, Leslie Marmon Silko, Lucille Clifton, Paradise Lost, Percy Bysshe Shelley, poetic muse, Republic, William Wordsworth Comments closed
Poets Talking Poetry over a Beer
In this R.S. Thomas poem, two poets engage in the never-ending discussion of whether poetry is more craft or inspiration.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Circus Animals Desertion", "Poetry for Supper", Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer, Ion, John Keats, Parliament of Fowls, R. S. Thomas, Squire's Tale, W. B. Yeats Comments closed
