Tag Archives: Herbert Marcuse

Does Lightweight Lit Do Damage?

By Robin Bates | Published: March 1, 2021

I look at how thinkers over the centuries have viewed so-called popular or lightweight literature.

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What Lit Is Good For–A Debate

By Robin Bates | Published: August 16, 2018

Thursday Tim Parks has written a provocative essay for The New York Review of Books, asking, Is literature wise? In the sense, does it help us to live? And if not, what exactly is it good for? If you follow this blog, you already know my answers: –Yes, literature is wiser than we are (and […]

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Defending the Canon vs. New Attacks

By Robin Bates | Published: May 25, 2016

Yale English majors have been complaining about requiring them to study canonical writers. Here’s is why they are wrong.

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Poetry Standing Firm in the Face of Fire

By Robin Bates | Published: June 30, 2009

“But maybe stories and poetry can help open our minds to possibilities that are very real but extremely hard to see; and in that sense, they can be very practical.” – Rachel Kranz in a response to yesterday’s post I love the two responses to yesterday’s post (from the two major women in my life) […]

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