A Freudian analysis of why we are drawn to literature and what it does for us.
Sign up for my weekly newsletter
Tag Archives: Sophocles
Freud: Lit Leads to Self Mastery
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Bruno Bettelheim, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Interpretation of Dreams, Joseph Conrad, Oedipus, Robert Louis Stevenson, Sigmund Freud Comments closed
A Partial Defense of Plato’s Poet Ban
Perhaps Plato banished poets from his ideal society because he appreciated the destructive potential of stories. He’s relevant in light of today’s conspiracy theories.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged 1Q84, Aeschylus, conspiracy theories, Donald Trump, Euripides, Haruki Murakami, Homer, philosophy vs. poetry, Plato, QAnon, Republic Comments closed
How Tragedy Made Greek Lives Better
Aristotle saw Greek tragedy as teaching citizens the process of deliberation.
Post of the Year: Plagues in Literature
A survey of literature through the ages that has dealt with plagues.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Aeneid, Albert Camus, COVID-19, Daniel Defoe, Emily St. John Mandel, Journal of the Plague Year, Katherine Anne Porter, Louise Erdrich, Margaret Atwood, Oedipus, Oryk and Crake, Pale Horse Pale Rider, plague, Stand, Station Eleven, Stephen King, Tracks, Virgil Comments closed
The Sexual Politics of Circe-Odysseus
Miller’s novel “Circe” engages with a long tradition of Circe and Odysseus depictions, including those of Homer, Virgil, Euripides, Sophocles, Dante, Tennyson, and Atwood.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Circe, Circe Mud Poems, Euripides, Hecuba, Inferno, Madeline Miller, Margaret Atwood, Penelopiad, Philoctetes, Sexual Politics, Ulysses Comments closed
Seamus Heaney’s Healing Vision
Seamus Heaney’s “Cure at Troy” points toward a country’s possibility for healing, a powerful vision as America emerges from the Trump presidency and a contentious election.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Cure at Troy, Election 2020, Joe Biden, Philoctetes, Seamus Heaney, truth and reconciliation Comments closed
Hope for a Great Sea-Change
The Seamus Heaney poem that Biden quotes in a new ad is itself taken from Heaney’s verse translation of Sophocles’s “Philoctetes.” It’s perfect for the current moment.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Cure of Troy", 2020 election, Joe Biden, Martha Nussbaum, Philoctetes, Seamus Heaney Comments closed
Trump & Covid: Tragedy or Farce?
Was the Rose Garden event for Trump’s new SCOTUS pick–which became a Covid superspreader event–a Shakespearean tragedy? How about a farce?
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged COVID-19, Donald Trump, Game of Thrones, George Martin, Hamlet, King Lear, Macbeth, Masque of the Red Death, Richard III, William Shakespeare Comments closed
A Literary Survey of What Plagues Mean
A survey of how literary authors have grappled for meaning in times of pestilence bolsters our own search. I look at Sophocles, Virgil, Defoe, Porter, Camus, King, Mandel, Atwood, and Erdrich.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Aeneid, Albert Camus, COVID-19, Daniel Defoe, Emily St. John Mandel, Journal of the Plague Year, Katherine Anne Porter, Louise Erdrich, Margaret Atwood, Oedipus, Oryk and Crake, Pale Horse Pale Rider, Pestilence, plague, Stand, Station Eleven, Stephen King, Tracks, Virgil Comments closed