Psychologists say that a strong sense of narrative identity can lead to the profound sense of happiness described by Aristotle. Literature helps us make sure we have available to us the best narratives.
Tag Archives: William Shakespeare
A Cosmic Theory of Literature
My attempt at an overarching theory of literature and its place in human history and human progress.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand, Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, Sir Philip Sidney, Terence, Twelfth Night, Wayne Booth Comments closed
Jeb! Agonistes: An Unsettling Parallel
Does Jeb Bush resemble at the moment Samson Agonistes? His rivalry with Marco Rubio also resembles any number of Shakespeare tragedies. There’s an Oedipus parallel as well.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged 2016 election, GOP, GOP primary, Henry IV Part II, Jeb Bush, John Milton, Joseph Campbell, Julius Caesar, King Lear, Macbeth, Marco Rubio, Oedipus, politics, Samson Agonistes, Sophocles Comments closed
For a Rich Life, Read Widely and Freely
Literature impacts our lives but the influence is best if we read a wide variety of works. Limiting ourselves to just a few authors can warp us.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Company We Keep, D. H. Lawrence, ethics of fiction, Jane Austen, Leo Tolstoy, Mikhail Lermontov, Wayne Booth Comments closed
Can Lit Also Be a Force for Evil? A Debate
The classics are capable to doing great good but can they also do harm? Even as they powerfully open up the mind to new possibilities, can they also close it down? A debate.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Anabelle Lee", Aristotle, Bridge to Terabithia, Charles Dickens, Earth Sea Trilogy, Edgar Allan Poe, George Eliot, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Jane Austen, Katherine Paterson, Middlemarch, Old Curiosity Shop, Percy Shelley, Plato, Pride and Prejudice, Sir Philip Sidney, Twelfth Night, Uncle Tom's Cabin, Ursula Leguin Comments closed
All the Devils of Hell Unleashed by Katrina
The panic of New Orleans 9th Ward residents ten years ago is reminiscent of the passengers on board the ship in Shakespeare’s “Tempest”: “Hell is empty and all the devils are here!”
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Fema, Hurricane Katrina, Michael Brown, New Orleans, Tempest Comments closed
