By expanding the way the same-sex community saw themselves, “Picture of Dorian Gray” was indeed guilty of the charges brought against it.
In “Pax,” D. H. Lawrence echoes the 23rd Psalm only substitutes a cat for a sheep.
My son Toby, currently a graduate student in English, just sent me this link to a Slate article about Mitt Romney discouraging students from becoming English majors. Here is the paragraph that caught my eye: “You really don’t want to take out $150,000 loan to go into English because you’re not going to be able to [...]
The Pedro Almodovar film “Volver” explores the longing the love will prove more powerful than death.
Stephen Vincent Benet has a perfect poem for students worn out from end-of-the-semester studying.
The plays would have been different if Shakespeare’s characters had had access to social media.
King Hrothgar in “Beowulf” describes the creeping sense of entitlement that can possess a society’s wealthiest citizens.
Victor Hugo’s terrifying description of a loose cannon can be applied to the 2008 financial meltdown.
Although not explicitly religious, Mary Oliver has a Good Friday-Resurrection progression in many of her poems, including “Morning at Great Pond.”
David Brooks recommends that young idealists toughen up a la Sam Spade.
In honor of upcoming Earth Day, I share a poem based on an actual incidents where hundred of rabbits released to be hunted by Napoleon turned on the emperor’s party and routed them.
Characters from Dickens novels reside so deeply within us as to become virtual lifelong friends.
Ralph Ellison’s “Invisible Man” remains relevant, including to the Trayvon Martin case.
Voldemort can be interpreted as the father in Harry Potter’s primal scene.
Posted in Dostoevsky (Fyodor), Rowling (J. K.) | Tagged Brothers Karamazov, Carl Jung, fathers, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Harry Potter, J. K. Rowling, Joseph Campbell, Maturation, Oedipus complex, Sigmund Freud |
R. S. Thomas’s poem about religious doubt calls for a leap of faith in the midst of darkness.
Trayvon Martin’s death has Americans rethinking the vigilante film.
Posted in Death Wish (film), Gran Torino (film), Taxi Driver (film) | Tagged Clint Eastwood, Death Wish, Gran Torino, John Ford, John Wayne, Martin Scorcese, Taxi Driver, Trayvon Martin, Vigilantism, violence |
Applying Brecht’s “Good Person of Szechwan” to Obamacare reveals America’s conflict between business and benevolence.
One of my students is exploring her mother’s terminal illness, and her own grieving, through Gail Godwin’s novel “The Good Husband.”
Think of the 2012 Republican primaries as “The Great Gatsby,” with Romney as Tom Buchanan and Santorum as Gatsby.
Encountering a dead bird outside my window, I recalled a Lucille Clifton poem on the subject that draws a powerful social message.
Mary Oliver finds Easter holiness in a new born fawn.
The 1989 film “Jesus of Montreal” shows the establishment church standing in the way of Jesus’s message.
What causes Obama-derangement? Ellison’s “Invisible Man” and Baldwin’s “Go Tell It on the Mountain” offer explanations.
If Obamacare’s mandate is overturned, the moneyed interests will have won. In Giebenhain’s poem, the sheriff will have bested Robin Hood.
In her book about Eichmann, Hannah Arendt praises the Danes for how they stood up to the Nazis. One can draw a parallel with how Beowulf stands up to Grendel and also apply the lesson to the Trayvon Martin case.
This past year I have learned, in a new and powerful way, that the Faustus legend is a powerful exploration of the meaning of life and death. This is thanks to Caitie Harrigan, a senior at St. Mary’s who has been writing her senior project on the legend. As Caitie told me recently, she never [...]
Levertov focuses on Jesus’s very human moments of doubt, which serve to emphasize the sublimity of his acceptance of his humiliation and death.
