Tag Archives: Umberto Eco

Casablanca, a Film for Every Occasion

By Robin Bates | Published: May 14, 2010

Film Friday What is it about Casablanca that makes it applicable to practically any occasion?  A couple of weeks ago I referred to it when comparing Goldman Sachs to a casino.  Then a couple of days later Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen mentioned the scene of rounding up suspects when writing about Arizona’s new immigration [...]

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Idealism Under Siege, Irony to the Rescue

By Robin Bates | Published: October 29, 2009

The Princess Bride, True Love Triumphant  In my Tom Jones class earlier this week, one of my students (Erin Hendrix) noted that one of the passages made her think of a scene in the movie The Princess Bride. This led to a discussion of how both works employ irony to help us hold on to [...]

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Trusting that Good Can Come from Ill

By Robin Bates | Published: October 8, 2009

Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus What have I learned about literature and pain this past week? First, that writers have taken up the topic, just as they take up every aspect of human existence. They imagine what it is like to feel pain and, through poetic images and fictional stories, convey that experience to readers. By entering [...]

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