Tag Archives: Oedipus

McCarthy a Greek Hero? NOT!

Kevin McCarthy is no tragic hero. He does resemble a minor figure from “Julius Caesar,” however.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , , , | Comments closed

Got a Problem? Call a Poet

Tragedy, it turns out, is a powerful literary form for dealing with posttraumatic fear.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments closed

First They Came for Toni Morrison, Then…

In the right attacks Toni Morrison novels, does this mean that Homer, Dostoevsky, Milton, and Sophocles are next?

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , , , , , | Comments closed

The Afghan Debacle, a Greek Tragedy

There’s an element of Greek tragedy in the withdrawal from Afghanistan, starting with arrogance and ending with fate.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , | Comments closed

Freud: Lit Leads to Self Mastery

A Freudian analysis of why we are drawn to literature and what it does for us.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , , , , | Comments closed

Post of the Year: Plagues in Literature

A survey of literature through the ages that has dealt with plagues.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments closed

A Literary Survey of What Plagues Mean

A survey of how literary authors have grappled for meaning in times of pestilence bolsters our own search. I look at Sophocles, Virgil, Defoe, Porter, Camus, King, Mandel, Atwood, and Erdrich.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments closed

Why Trump Is Not a Tragic Hero

Wednesday The strangest development in the Trump Ukraine scandal may be the way that Trump himself has given us the smoking gun—which is to say, the rough transcript of a phone call where he tries to shake down the Ukrainian president for dirt on the 2020 political opponent he most fears. Jon Meacham attributes Trump’s […]

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , , | Comments closed

Cataract Surgery: See Better, Lear

Thursday I am undergoing a second cataract surgery today and so am reposting the essay I wrote following my first (successful) surgery. I don’t expect to re-experience the same mixed feelings that I described two years ago, but dramas that feature sharp objects poked into people’s eyes still seem relevant. This essay is not for […]

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , , , | Comments closed