Tag Archives: Saul Bellow

Reading Lit to Cope with Prison

By Robin Bates | Published: May 10, 2023

In his book about reading lit in prison, Genis talks about how novels helped him understand fellow inmates and discover his own Jewishness.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged 1Q84, Alan Moore, American Gods, Bohumil Hrabal, Daniel Genis, Franz Kafka, Good as Gold, Haruki Murakami, Herzog, Jaroslav Hasek, Jorge Luis Borges, Joseph Heller, Neil Gaiman, Philip Roth, Portnoy's Complaint, Prison, reading in prison, Sentence, The Good Soldier Svejk | Comments closed

Is Sexist Lit Gaslighting Women?

By Robin Bates | Published: February 19, 2018

A Guardian article argues that critical praise for sexist male authors valorizes patriarchal attitudes.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Charlotte Bronte, Donald Trump, Ernest Hemingway, Feminism, Hillary Clinton, Human Stain, Jane Eyre, Lolita, MeToo, Norman Mailer, Philip Roth, Sexism, Vladimir Nabokov | Comments closed

A Herculean Task: Purging Old Files

By Robin Bates | Published: January 4, 2018

I’ve spent the last couple of days going through my father’s files (and throwing most of them away). I feel like Heracles cleaning out the Augean stables, as described by Seamus Heaney.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "at last we killed the roaches", Augean stables, Herzog, Lucille Clifton, Scott Bates, Seamus Heaney | Comments closed

The President Who Loved Literature

By Robin Bates | Published: January 16, 2017

In a remarkable interview with “The New York Times,” Barack Obama spoke about the importance of literature in his life. The range of his reading and the sensitivity of his responses is astounding.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Barack Obama, Bend in the River, Colson Whitehead, Doris Lessing, Ernest Hemingway, Fates and Furies, Garcia Gabriel Marquez, Gilead, Gillian Flynn, Golden Notebook, Gone Girl, Jack Kerouac, Jhumpa Lahiri, Junot Diaz, Lauren Goff, Liu Cixin, Marilynne Robinson, Martha Nussbaum, Maxine Hong Kingston, Moveable Feast, Naked and the Dead, Norman Mailer, One Hundred Years of Solitude, Philip Roth, Road, Song of Solomon, Tempest, Three Body Problem, Toni Morrison, Underground Railroad, V.S. Naipaul, Warrior Woman, William Shakespeare | Comments closed

Roger Ebert’s Kinship with Whitman

By Robin Bates | Published: April 7, 2013

In reflecting on death and dying, Roger Ebert turned to literature rather than to film.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Brendan Behan, death, Georges Remi, Henry James, Herzog, Kurt Vonnegut, Leaves of Grass, Roger Ebert, Slaughterhouse Five, Tintin, Walt Whitman | Comments closed

Internet Nastiness: Crying to Be Heard

By Robin Bates | Published: September 29, 2010

There has been a lot of complaining in recent years about the lack of civility in social discourse. The breakdown of common courtesy and mutual respect in town hall meetings, Congress, and other venues threatens (some believe) the very foundations of our society. In his article this week, Jason Blake talks about how the internet […]

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Unpopular Girls", Incivility, Internet, Margaret Atwood | Comments closed