Tag Archives: Tracks

Post of the Year: Plagues in Literature

By Robin Bates | Published: December 30, 2020

A survey of literature through the ages that has dealt with plagues.

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A Literary Survey of What Plagues Mean

By Robin Bates | Published: April 19, 2020

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.

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Empty but for Pain: How Faith Is Perverted

By Robin Bates | Published: January 21, 2017

During Inauguration activities on Friday, we saw two dramatically different versions of Christianity, with one pastor finding scriptural backing for Donald Trump’s wall and another presenting him with the Sermon on the Mount.

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How Fantasy Saves Our Souls

By Robin Bates | Published: April 13, 2015

Great fantasy can always be seen as oppositional, pushing against prevailing modes of thought and opening up portals into new human possibilities.

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Erdrich Charts a Third Way for Fantasy

By Robin Bates | Published: March 31, 2015

L. Frank Baum and Edgar Allen Poe represent the light and the dark strains of American fantasy. But Louise Erdrich introduces a third strain, Native American, to the conversation.

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