With Pete Hegseth’s over-the-top exhibition of macho, I look at the history of literary cuckold jokes, which reveal the anxieties of insecure men.
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Tag Archives: William Wycherley
Early Scenes from a Marriage
My memoir continued, this time looking at my relationship with Julia during our grad school years in Atlanta.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "River Merchant's Wife", Anna Karenina, Country Wife, Ezra Pound, Jane Austen, Leo Tolstoy, Marriage, Pride and Prejudice Comments closed
The Trap of Toxic Masculinity
Toxic masculinity is defining the Trump administration. Authors such as William Wycherley and Adrienne Rich recognize the dangers.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged “Epistle from Mrs. Yonge to Her Husband", "Knight", Adrienne Rich, Country Wife, cuckolding, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, Pete Hegseth, toxic masculinity Comments closed
How Toxic Masculinity Imprisons Men
Those men who are embracing toxic masculinity make themselves vulnerable since it’s so easy to deflate them. Lady Montagu pointed this out in an 18th century poem.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Epistle from Mrs. Yonge to Her Hustand", Chaucer, Country Wife, cuckold jokes, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, male anxiety, Sigmund Freud, toxic masculinity, Wife of Bath Comments closed
When a Novel Affected Clock Sales
Friday I have lots of thoughts about the Congressional hearings on Donald Trump’s January 6 coup attempt, which opened last night, and am working up a post that references Milton’s rebel angels. I’ll end this week, however, on a lighter note, an interesting footnote that my English professor son alerted me to. Apparently, Laurence Sterne’s […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged clocks, Country Wife, Enlightenment, John Wilmot, Laurence Sterne, Plain Dealer, Tristram Shandy Comments closed
Trump Scandal as Comedy of Manners
White House scandals are coming into the open. William Wycherley could write a Restoration comedy about it all.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Bob Woodward, Country Wife, Donald Trump, White House Comments closed
From Wycherley to Crazy, Stupid, Love
In my “Restoration and 18th Century Couples Comedy” class, my students paired old rom-coms with contemporary films, including “Ten Things I Hate about You,” “How To Lose a Guy in 10 Days, “Friends with Benefits,” and others.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged 10 Things I Hate about You, Alexander Pope, Aphra Behn Country Wife, Austenland, Belle's Stratagem, Brave, Crazy Stupid Love, Don Jon, Friends with Benefits, Hannah Cowley, He’s Just Not That into You, How To Lose a Guy in 10 Days, Jane Austen, Mean Girls, Oliver Goldsmith, Rape of the Lock, Richard Sheridan, Rivals, Rover, Say Anything, Sense and Sensibility, She Stoops to Conquer Comments closed