Wendell Berry’s insight into the nature of hate recalls Satan’s soliloquy in “Paradise Lost.” It also helps explain Trumpist resentment.
Tag Archives: resentment
Berry and Milton on Love and Hate
Trump and Satan, Both Miserable
Trump is as miserable as Milton’s Satan (and also a character in a Trollope novel). Unfortunately, like Satan, he does all he can to pull others into his well of misery.
Can We Be Beowulf Strong?
“Bowulf,” a poem about rage, violence, and the end of empire.
Hugo Describes Trump-Style Resentment
The toxic mixture of resentment and entitlement found in the Capitol Hill insurrectionists is described by Victor Hugo in “Les Miserables.”
Dante on Life beyond Resentment
The envious in Dante’s “Purgatorio” shows that one can move past one’s resentments–important for the Biden administration to know.
Students as Beowulf vs. Covid
Through describing their essays on “Beowulf,” I recount how five students are responding to the Covid crisis.
“Beowulf” Understands U.S. Violence
Thursday When I launched this blog over 10 years ago, I called it Better Living through Beowulf because Beowulf is the starting text for those of us specializing in British Literature. I used Beowulf to represent all of literature and felt free to write about any literary work that provides insight into the life we […]
Pelosi, Mueller vs. Grendel Trump
Monday John Stoehr, who edits The Editorial Board, had a provocative column recently that is worth contemplating on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Stoehr argues that sadism is the animating principle of the Republican Party, with Donald Trump being its purest expression. Whether this is in fact true of most Republicans, Trump himself is certainly […]