“Aeneid” has a passage that brings the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection to mind. And shows how a great leader would have handled it.
Sign up for my weekly newsletter
Tag Archives: Virgil
On Soothing Riotous Mobs
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Aeneid, August Caesar, Donald Trump, January 6 insurrection, mob rioting Comments closed
Saving the Classics from Ideologues
A Univ. of Chicago classicist fears the alt-right will appropriate the classics for their own ends.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Aeneid, classics, culture wars, Homer, Iliad, Odyssey Comments closed
Post of the Year: Plagues in Literature
A survey of literature through the ages that has dealt with plagues.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Aeneid, Albert Camus, COVID-19, Daniel Defoe, Emily St. John Mandel, Journal of the Plague Year, Katherine Anne Porter, Louise Erdrich, Margaret Atwood, Oedipus, Oryk and Crake, Pale Horse Pale Rider, plague, Sophocles, Stand, Station Eleven, Stephen King, Tracks Comments closed
Apocalyptic Fire Ravages the Nation
For literary equivalents of the west coast fires, look to “The Aeneid” and to Vasily Grossman’s “Life and Fate.”
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Aeneid, California wildfires, climate change, extreme weather, Life and Fate, Oregon wildfires, Vasily Grossman Comments closed
In a Dark Time, Beowulf Was My Virgil
If Dante had his Virgil, I have Beowulf. Both poets helped up negotiate dark times.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Aeneid, Beowulf, Beowulf poet, Dante, Divine Comedy, grief and grieving Comments closed
Better Living through Virgil
When lost in deep depression, Dante turns to his favorite author, Virgil, to help him out.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Aeneid, Christopher Marlowe, Dante, Divine Comedy, Doctor Faustus Comments closed
Black Lives Matter Changes the Canon
Black Lives Matter is getting some professors to rethink works they had previously defended
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Dante, Harold Bloom, Heart of Darkness, Homer, Joseph Conrad, literary canon, Shakespeare Comments closed
In Aeneid, It’s the Wives Who Riot
The riots in the wake of George Floyd’s death recall for me the wives rioting in the Aeneid–another neglected and long-suffering group who are fed up.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Aeneid, George Floyd, Minneapolis riots, police brutality, racism Comments closed
Virgil on Trump’s Rage Tweeting
Trump’s ability to disseminate conspiracy theories through social media has a counterpart in Virgil’s goddess Rumor in the “Aeneid.”