A “Washington Post” article argues that the arts are key in counteracting economic injustice. While this is true, the arts must be accompanied by smart politics to achieve this end.
Tag Archives: politics
Workers of the World, Read! (Then Unite)
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged 2016 presidential election, Age of Innocence, Defense of Poesy, Donald Trump, Edith Wharton, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Great Gatsby, Sir Philip Sidney Comments closed
Was T. S. Eliot a Key to Hillary’s Success?
As a college student at Wellesley in 1969, Hillary Clinton made multiple references to T. E. Eliot’s “East Coker.” Now as we watch her become the presumptive Democratic nominee, we can see how Eliot has helped her along the way.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "East Coker", 2016 presidential race, Feminism, Four Quartets, Hillary Clinton, T. S. Eliot Comments closed
Trump Sees Garbage and Rocks in Foes
I’ve compared Donald Trump to Murakami’s villain in “Wind-Up Bird Chronicle.” Today I dig deeper into the comparison.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged 2016 presidential election, Donald Trump, Haruki Murakami, Wind-Up Bird Chronicle Comments closed
Trump as a Haruki Murakami Villain
Donald Trump has an uncanny resemblance to the villain Noboru Wataya in Haruki Murakami’s masterful novel “The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle” (1998). Both have a similar hollowness and both have the ability to separate people from the higher instincts and put them in thrall to their lower ones.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged 2016 presidential election, Donald Trump, GOP, Haruki Murakami, Jonathan Bernstein, racism, Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, xenophobia Comments closed
Pope Foresaw GOP Capitulation to Trump
Alexander Pope warned, in “Essay on Man” that vice loses its ugliness once it becomes familiar. This is the danger we face with the normalization of Donald Trump.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Old Whorehouse", 2016 presidential election, Alexander Pope, Donald Trump, Essay on Man, Mary Oliver Comments closed
Hillary Clinton as Emma Woodhouse
Hillary Clinton shares certain characteristics with Emma Woodhouse. (And far fewer with Lady Macbeth.)
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged 2016 presidential election, Emma, Hillary Clinton, Jane Austen Comments closed
Trump’s Use of the Homeric Epithet
Donald Trump is making regular use of “the Homeric epithet.” He doesn’t use it as well as Homer, however.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged 2016 presidential election, Donald Trump, Homer, Iliad, Odyssey Comments closed
How Trump Is Changing the Discourse
Adam Gopnik of “New Yorker” and Andrew Sullivan of “New York” are very, very frightened by the rise of Trump. As they explain why, they quote Tom Stoppard, Sinclair Lewis, Mark Twain, J. R. R. Tolkien, and Plato.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Donald Trump, Fascism, GOP, Huckleberry Finn, It Can't Happen Here, J. R. R. Tolkien, Jumpers, Lord of the Rings, Mark Twain, Presidential politics, protofascism, Sinclair Lewis, Tom Stoppard Comments closed
#NeverTrump! Never! Never! Never! Never?
Many who vowed NeverTrump are backing away from the word “never.” “Never” is an important word in “King Lear” and Lear, unlike Lear’s opponents, doesn’t back away from it.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Donald Trump, King Lear, Marco Rubio, Presidential politics, Republican primaries, William Shakespeare Comments closed
