Why do so many Trump supporters deliberately court coronavirus? Why do Napoleon’s soldiers in “War and Peace” throw themselves into a river to impress him.
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Tag Archives: War and Peace
Tolstoy on Suicidal Cult Followers
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged coronavirus protests, COVID-19, Donald Trump, Gov. Whitmer, Leo Tolstoy, settle in place orders Comments closed
H. W. Bush’s “War and Peace” Lessons
“War and Peace” was the late H. W. Bush’s favorite novel. Perhaps he imitated Gen. Kutuzov by withdrawing from Iraq after winning.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush, Iraq War, Leo Tolstoy, Persian Gulf War, Saddam Hussein Comments closed
Read to Resist: An Introduction
Thursday I share today the introduction to my upcoming book, which is still in draft form and whose title I keep changing. Latest title: Read to Resist: Classic Lit Provides Tools for Battling Trump and Trumpism. I’m still not entirely satisfied with that and so will keep tinkering. In any event, here’s my first attempt […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Alexander Pope, Beowulf, Donald Trump, Dunciad, Go Set a Watchman, H. G. Wells, Harper Lee, Invisible Man, John Milton, Leo Tolstoy, Othello, Paradise Lost, To Kill a Mockingbird, Trump resistance, William Shakespeare Comments closed
Tolstoy on Resisting a Narcissist
If Trump is like Napoleon in Tolstoy’s “War and Peace,” can he be defeated by popular resistance, as he is in Tolstoy’s novel?
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged American Dream, Donald Trump, Immigration, Leo Tolstoy, Trump resistance Comments closed
Great Pro-War Literature Doesn’t Exist
In which I argue that great pro-war literature doesn’t exist, including “The iliad” and “War and Peace.” (Both works are magnificent; I just don’t see them as pro-war.)
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Charge of the Light Brigade", Alfred Lord Tennyson, anti-war literature, Catch 22, Donald Trump, Ernest Hemingway, For Whom the Bell Tolls, Homer, Iliad, Joseph Heller, Leo Tolstoy, Naked and the Dead, Norman Mailer, Things They Carried, Tim O'Brien, war Comments closed
Tolstoy and the Forerunners of Twitter
Before there were people sending tweets about the important developments of the day, there was witty repartee in European salons. We get a taste of such banter from Tolstoy’s “War and Peace.
Panicked by Trump? Turn to Lit
As Trump panic starts to set in, pundits are turning to literature to get an understanding of how it has all happened. This past week saw references to “Oedipus,” “Frankenstein,” “War and Peace,” and “Slaughterhouse Five.”
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Donald Trump, Frankenstein, GOP, Kurt Vonnegut, Leo Tolstoy, Marco Rubio, Mary Shelley, Oedipus, Presidential politics, Slaughterhouse Five, Sophocles Comments closed
Happy Families Are All Alike?
Tolstoy may seem to say that unhappy families are more interesting that happy ones in “Anna Karenina,” but the happy families that conclude “War and Peace” appear to contradict this.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Anna Karenina, families, husbands and wifes, Leo Tolstoy Comments closed
On Sickness and the Power of Prayer
In “War and Peace” Tolstoy gives a powerful account of how prayer and church attendance can help in the recovery process.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged church attendance, Leo Tolstoy, Prayer, ritual, sickness Comments closed