Tag Archives: Toni Morrison

When Hate Groups Devour Their Own

By Robin Bates | Published: January 18, 2021

Conspiratorial hate is feeding on itself. Toni Morrison and Joyce Carol Oates both describe the process.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged 2020 election, Capitol Hill insurrection, Donald Trump, Joe Biden, Joyce Carol Oates, Song of Solomon | Comments closed

Harris’s Literary Favs Reveal a Vibrant Soul

By Robin Bates | Published: November 16, 2020

Kamala Harris’s favorite lit reveals a woman engaging in foundational exploration, especially regarding race and gender.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Amy Tan, C. S. Lewis, immigrants, Joy Luck Club, Kamala Harris, Khaled Hosseini, Kite Runner, Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, Native Son, race relations, Richard Wright, Song of Solomon | Comments closed

Specter of Racial Violence Haunts Faulkner

By Robin Bates | Published: September 3, 2020

Faulkner’s depiction of racial violence shows America’s dark side. Faulkner’s own racial views are less important than the truths that he shows.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Absolom Absolom, Light in August, racism, segregation, Sound and the Fury, William Faulkner | Comments closed

Covid Costs Us Loved Ones’ Final Words

By Robin Bates | Published: July 12, 2020

Among the many tragedies related to Covid is how family and friends are missing out on final words. Many literary works touch on the importance of this last encounter.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Aeschylus, Agamemnon, COVID-19, death and dying, death bed words, Henry Fielding, Richard II, Song of Solomon, Tom Jones, William Shakespeare | Comments closed

Toni Morrison’s Black Gothic

By Robin Bates | Published: February 24, 2020

If the Southern Gothic grows out of white denial about white terrorism, what are we to make of black gothic? Morrison’s “Beloved” offers some answers.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Beloved, gothic literature, return of the repressed, Southern Gothic | Comments closed

Use Lit to Combat Racism

By Robin Bates | Published: January 1, 2020

My thoughts about a racial book burning at a southern college–and how literature can help.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged book burnings, Jennine Capo Crucet, Make Your Home Among Strangers, privilege, racism, Song of Solomon | Comments closed

Trump’s Wall, Symbolic or Literal?

By Robin Bates | Published: January 7, 2019

Monday Literature majors will find their training useful in understanding why Donald Trump has chosen to shut down the government. It has to do with the difference between the symbolic and the literal. A literal wall makes very little sense, with the $5.5 billion dollars that Trump is demanding from American taxpayers (not from Mexico) […]

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Beloved, Donald Trump, magical realism, Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie, symbolic vs literal thinking, Trump's wall | Comments closed

Lit as a Survival Toolkit

By Robin Bates | Published: January 3, 2019

Thursday Friend and occasional guest blogger Carl Rosin alerted me to a heartfelt Commonweal article by an English professor describing how literature helped her confront and work through childhood abuse. Cassandra Nelson’s difficult history leads to some remarkable insights into trigger warnings, which she opposes. Nelson’s view on trigger warnings is pretty much my own […]

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Bluest Eye, Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Bruno Bettelheim, childhood trauma, Dante, Inferno, Junot Diaz, King Lear, sexual abuse, sexual assault, William Shakespeare | Comments closed

The U.S. Open as a Toni Morrison Novel

By Robin Bates | Published: September 11, 2018

The tempestuous match between Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka reminded me of the Nel-Sula drama in Toni Morrison’s novel.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Naomi Osaka, Serena Williams, Sula, tennis | Comments closed