Recent cataract surgery had me recalling all those literary passages where sharp objects get poked into people’s eyes. The real drama, however, was renegotiating my professional identity.
Sign up for my weekly newsletter
Tag Archives: Sophocles
My Cataract Surgery Recalls Oedipus, Lear
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged cataract surgery, eyes, King Lear, Medicine, Oedipus, William Shakespeare Comments closed
Lit Opens Minds to Suffering of the Other
Philosopher Martha Nussbaum argues that literature is essential for creating good citizens in a diverse society, turning to Sophocles’s “Philoctetes” and Ralph Ellison’s “Invisible Man” to make her point.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Invisible Man, Marcus Aurelius, Martha Nussbaum, Philoctetes, racial justice, racism, Ralph Ellison Comments closed
Solace for Vets from Sophocles
A group has been giving dramatic readings of Sophocles plays in order to reach veterans suffering from PTSD. The results have been astonishing.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Ajax, Philoctetes, PTSD, Veterans, veterans' suicides, war Comments closed
Panicked by Trump? Turn to Lit
As Trump panic starts to set in, pundits are turning to literature to get an understanding of how it has all happened. This past week saw references to “Oedipus,” “Frankenstein,” “War and Peace,” and “Slaughterhouse Five.”
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Donald Trump, Frankenstein, GOP, Kurt Vonnegut, Leo Tolstoy, Marco Rubio, Mary Shelley, Oedipus, Presidential politics, Slaughterhouse Five, War and Peace Comments closed
Jeb! Agonistes: An Unsettling Parallel
Does Jeb Bush resemble at the moment Samson Agonistes? His rivalry with Marco Rubio also resembles any number of Shakespeare tragedies. There’s an Oedipus parallel as well.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged 2016 election, GOP, GOP primary, Henry IV Part II, Jeb Bush, John Milton, Joseph Campbell, Julius Caesar, King Lear, Macbeth, Marco Rubio, Oedipus, politics, Samson Agonistes, William Shakespeare Comments closed
Germany vs. Greece, a Greek Tragedy
Novelist Tim McCarthy argues that the economic collision between Germany and Greece reenacts a number of the classic Greek tragedies, most notably “Oedipus” and “The Oresteia.” But Athena may not intervene in this instance.
Are the Gods Out to Destroy Manziel?
The epic fail in Johnny Manziel’s first NFL start invites Sophoclean analogies. Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus also comes to mind.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Christopher Marlowe, Doctor Faustus, Football, Johnny Manziel, NFL, Oedipus, Sports Comments closed
Oedipus in Iraq
America’s blindness in instigating the Iraq War, now proving to be an abject failure, resembles that of Oedipus.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush, Iraq War, Oedipal conflict, Oedipus Comments closed
Top 10 Hellish Child-Parent Relationships
Top 10 Literary Parent-Child Relationships from Hell.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "All that Rises Must Converge", "Daddy", "Letter to a Dead Father", Aeschylus, Brothers Karamazov, D. H. Lawrence, Euripides, Flannery O'Connor, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Hamlet, King Lear, Medea, Midsummer Night's Dream, Oedipus, Oresteia, parents and children, Phillip K. Roth, Portnoy's Complaint, Richard Shelton, Romeo and Juliet, Sons and Lovers, Sylvia Plath, William Shakespeare Comments closed