Tag Archives: Herzog

Reading Lit to Cope with Prison

By Robin Bates | Published: May 10, 2023

In his book about reading lit in prison, Genis talks about how novels helped him understand fellow inmates and discover his own Jewishness.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged 1Q84, Alan Moore, American Gods, Bohumil Hrabal, Daniel Genis, Franz Kafka, Good as Gold, Haruki Murakami, Jaroslav Hasek, Jorge Luis Borges, Joseph Heller, Neil Gaiman, Philip Roth, Portnoy's Complaint, Prison, reading in prison, Saul Bellow, Sentence, The Good Soldier Svejk | Comments closed

A Herculean Task: Purging Old Files

By Robin Bates | Published: January 4, 2018

I’ve spent the last couple of days going through my father’s files (and throwing most of them away). I feel like Heracles cleaning out the Augean stables, as described by Seamus Heaney.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "at last we killed the roaches", Augean stables, Lucille Clifton, Saul Bellow, Scott Bates, Seamus Heaney | Comments closed

Roger Ebert’s Kinship with Whitman

By Robin Bates | Published: April 7, 2013

In reflecting on death and dying, Roger Ebert turned to literature rather than to film.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Brendan Behan, death, Georges Remi, Henry James, Kurt Vonnegut, Leaves of Grass, Roger Ebert, Saul Bellow, Slaughterhouse Five, Tintin, Walt Whitman | Comments closed