Tag Archives: Edgar Allen Poe

Gothics Speak Truth to Denial

Thursday Thursday morning I delivered the following talk to Sewanee’s Rotary Club. I entitled it “America’s Obsession with Gothic Fantasy, from Poe to Game of Thrones. When you hear someone mention gothic fantasy or gothic horror, what American stories, movies or television shows come to mind? Before I let you answer that question, let me […]

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The GOP Descends into the Maelstrom

Poe’s “Descent into the Maelstrom” describes the state of current GOP politics, where even moderate Republicans are being pulled into rightwing extremism.

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The Complex Inner Life of Teachers

Lily King’s “The English Teacher” is filled with literary lllusions, most of them thematically important.

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Erdrich Charts a Third Way for Fantasy

L. Frank Baum and Edgar Allen Poe represent the light and the dark strains of American fantasy. But Louise Erdrich introduces a third strain, Native American, to the conversation.

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On Poe & the Paranoia of Anti-Vaxxers

Edgar Allen Poe gives us insight into vaccine truthers. Rather than dispelling shadows, scientific insights are pushing some Americans into repression.

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Neuro-Lit: English’s “Next Big Thing”?

A number of my friends have sent me the following New York Times article about the “next big thing in English”: neuro-lit.   Apparently fictionally identifying with story characters and plots is being studied from a brain point of view.  Researchers are looking at how many levels of abstraction the mind can hold (Virginia Woolf is credited […]

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Michael Jackson and Peter Pan

  “I am Peter Pan,” Michael Jackson reportedly once said, and of course he chose to name his ranch Neverland. In this second of my two posts marking Jackson’s death, I thought I would reflect upon why J. M. Barrie’s fictional creation meant so much to him. Peter Pan: The Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up […]

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