Tag Archives: Terrorism

Grendel Evil vs. Beowulf’s Strength of Mind

By Robin Bates | Published: May 25, 2017

The Manchester bombing sends us, as previous mass killings have done, to “Beowulf.” Perhaps no work of literature better captures the monstrosity of angry resentment. Fortunately, Manchester is responding with its version of Beowulf’s iron resolve.

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Invoking Tintin to Mourn the Killings

By Robin Bates | Published: March 22, 2016

As horror is unleashed in Belgium, people are turning to the country’s most beloved story creation, Hergés Tintin, to cope.

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Trump as Yeats’s Rough Beast

By Robin Bates | Published: December 20, 2015

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar accuses Donald Trump of being the actual terrorist and compares him to Yeats’s “rough beast” in “The Second Coming.”

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Atwood’s Dystopias & the Gun Business

By Robin Bates | Published: December 6, 2015

Margaret Atwood’s recent dystopian fictions capture how capitalism preys upon sex and fear. We don’t have to travel into the future as the gun industry is taking full advantage of our fears in the present.

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Conrad: Terrorism Not as Clear as It Looks

By Robin Bates | Published: December 3, 2015

We all think we know what went on with the killings in Charleston, Colorado Springs, and San Bernardino because they fit easy narratives. Joseph Conrad’s “The Secret Agent” should make us wary about jumping to conclusions.

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And the Light Shineth in the Darkness…

By Robin Bates | Published: November 29, 2015

Auden’s Advent section in “For the Time Being” captures the pessimism that many feel about the world today. Luckily, the poem moves on to the Christmas promise.

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We Risk Becoming Grendel’s Mother

By Robin Bates | Published: November 16, 2015

In reaction to the horrors of the Paris massacres, we are in danger of becoming consumed by the vengeful grief of Grendel’s Mother. The times call upon us to be Beowulf strong.

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Love & the Red Fool-Fury of the Seine

By Robin Bates | Published: November 14, 2015

Tennyson, responding to Paris massacres in the 1840s, asserts his faith in love and in social truth. Our challenge is to continue to believe this in the wake of the recent terror attacks.

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No Room in This House for Two “I”s

By Robin Bates | Published: June 28, 2015

A Rumi parable speaks to the recent killings in Kuwait City and Charleston. It shares certain themes with Barack Obama’s Friday eulogy to Reverend Pinckney.

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