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.
Tag Archives: Tempest
Shakespeare Understood Trumpism
According to Adam Gopnik, Shakespeare would have understood the rise of Donald Trump better than we do today. Whereas we see him as a historical oddity, Shakespeare would have seen him as the kind of evil that has always resided within humankind.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged 2016 presidential election, Adam Gopnik, As You Like It, Donald Trump, Hamlet, Henry V, Hillary Clinton, King Lear, Macbeth, Merchant of Venice, Richard III, Troilus and Cressida, Twelfth Night, William Shakespeare Comments closed
Prospero and the Presidential Primaries
Think of Shakespeare’s “Tempest” as an allegory for the current state of American politics, especially the presidential primaries. It contains visionaries and cynics, orchestrators and disrupters. If Prospero is the island “establishment,” then he enjoys some success but it is qualified.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Bernie Sanders, Democratic primary, Donald Trump, GOP primary, Hillary Clinton, politics, Ted Cruz, William Shakespeare Comments closed
All the Devils of Hell Unleashed by Katrina
The panic of New Orleans 9th Ward residents ten years ago is reminiscent of the passengers on board the ship in Shakespeare’s “Tempest”: “Hell is empty and all the devils are here!”
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Fema, Hurricane Katrina, Michael Brown, New Orleans, William Shakespeare Comments closed
KC Royals Storm into World Series
The way the Kansas City Royals upended conventional wisdom in making it to the World Series is not unlike the chaos caused by Ariel in “The Tempest” to restore another royal to power.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Baseball, Kansas City Royals, Shakespeare, Sports, world series Comments closed
Top 10 Parent-Child Classics (Positive)
A top ten list of classics with positive depictions of parent-child relationships.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Mother to Son", Charles Dickens, David Copperfield, Francis Hodgson Burnett, George Eliot, Golden Bowl, Harper Lee, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Henry Fielding, Henry James, Huckleberry Finn, Langston Hughes, Little Lord Fauntleroy, Mark Twain, Parent-child relationships, Silas Marner, To Kill a Mockingbird, Tom Jones, Uncle Tom's Cabin, William Shakespeare Comments closed
Fantasy Provides Aid for Life’s Storms
As a child who grew up immersed in fantasy fiction, I knew, as deeply as I knew anything, that these books put me in touch with something that was deep and true. As I grew up, of course, I learned that I had to move beyond fantasy just as I had to move beyond childhood. […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Eve of St. Agnes, fantasy, John Keats, Sigmund Freud, William Shakespeare Comments closed
Using Lit to Predict the Weather
Last week, while discussing “The Tempest,” we experienced a literal tempest. Expect cold temperatures today as I’m teaching “Eve of St. Agnes.”
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Eve of St. Agnes, Golden Compass, John Keats, Philip Pullman, weather, William Shakespeare Comments closed
