Clint Eastwood’s argument with an invisible Obama sums up the Romney campaign.
Paul Ryan, like Mac the Knife, lies with style.
Thackeray would attribute GOP anti-government fervor to the perverse logic of ingratitude.
NPR’s Studio 360 sponsored a “literary cocktail” contest. We share here some of the highlights.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Age of Innocence, Bonfire of the Vanities, Cat's Cradle, Dougas Adams, Edith Wharton, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Grapes of Wrath, Great Gatsby, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, John Steinbeck, Kurt Vonnegut, My Antonia, Talented Mr. Ripley, Tom Wolfe, Willa Cather |
Ellison’s “Invisible Man” helps us understand Obama’s and America’s, intricate dance with race issues.
Otsuka’s “When the Emperor Was Divine” excited our incoming students upon the upcoming school year.
Levertov’s poem about Peter escaping prison confronts existential issues of freedom
Caleb Gardner’s subtle but poignant tennis poem is about more than tennis.
Liberals appear to have won the media wars–or have they?
Like the oysters in “The Walrus and the Carpenter,” Americans are being lied to about GOP plans for Medicare.
Ritually enacting a piece of fiction, such as Andre Dubus’ “Adultery,” can lead to special insights.
An afternoon spent in a friend’s boat brought to mind Huck and Jim watching the Mississippi River.
Romney’s call for us to trust him on his taxes and policy specifics reminds me of Lewis Carroll’s “little crocodile.”
Rumi talks about the need to move beyond the lassitude caused by wealth and to turn towards teachers of the spirit.
In protest against laboring children, Scott Bates imagines the letter “L” going on strike.
“Pretty Woman” captures the ideas and the spirit of Helen Gurley Brown, who died Monday.
The departure of a friend put me in mind of a John Dryden ode–which led in turn to recalling an intense moment of connection.
Paul Ryan may resemble Angel Claire in Hardy’s “Tess of the D’Urbervilles,” but there’s a vicar who shows us a better way of dealing with a “fallen” woman.
Li Po’s poem captures the joys of a summer hike in the mountains.
With Paul Ryan as Mitt Romney’s vice-presidential choice, Ayn Rand’s novels have taken over the GOP.
The unorthodox baptism in “Tess of the D’Urbervilles” gives us special insight into the power of the ritual.
Like Shakespeare’s Puck, Usain Bolt toys with his opponents.
“Sight and Sound’s: once-every-ten-years poll is out, and “Citizen Kane” is no longer #1.
Yesterday I posted on the first part of an Elaine Scarry article where she discusses how the novel, by fostering empathy, has helped lessen violence–or so Steven Pinker claims in his book The Better Angels of Our Nature. Today I look at two other ways, according to Scarry, that literature contributes to a more humane world: [...]
The empathy fostered by novel reading may have played a role in the decline of violence.
Haruki Murakami’s protagonists have a distinctive form of emotional blandness that helps them cope with the world.
Pundits have recently been turning to literature to comment on the 2012 elections.
Posted in Bierce (Ambrose), Burdick (Eugene), Lederer (William), Rand (Ayn), Shakespeare (William), Trollope (Anthony) | Tagged Ambrose Bierce, Ayn Rand, Barack Obama, Eugene Burdick, Fountainhead, Mitt Romney, Oscar Wilde, politics, Presidential race, Richard II, Ugly American, William Lederer, William Shakespeare |
Poet Linda Pastan, like Jesus, sees in bread a metaphor for spiritual transcendence.
Beowulf engages in a swimming contest of Olympian dimensions.
“Dark Knight Rises” confirms the younger generation’s pessimism.
American students of color respond in powerful ways to “When the Emperor Was Divine,” Julie Otsuka’s novel about Japanese Americans’ experience in World War II internment camps.
