Tag Archives: violence

America’s Political Violence Problem

Some see Trump as a “stochastic terrorism,” inciting others to violence. Cormac McCarthy may understand as well as anyone what’s going on.

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

Gun Violence and Armageddon

Wednesday This past Sunday I shared a number of poems from Lucille Clifton’s Book of Days to reflect on how Christian nationalists, many of them wielding weapons of war, work against Jesus’s goal to bring the kingdom of God to Earth. One poem from the collection particularly stands out in the wake of the mass […]

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

Can We Be Beowulf Strong?

“Bowulf,” a poem about rage, violence, and the end of empire.

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

Pratchett’s Solution to Police Violence

Wednesday That Breonna Taylor’s family is receiving a $12 million settlement and the promise of police reform following her wrongful shooting by Louisville police is in part a testimony to Black Lives Matters protests and other instances of public pressure. Without them, we might not even know her name. With that in mind, I return […]

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

Battling Our Inner Darkness

Terry Pratchett’s “Thud!” deals with violence–both the violence we are witnessing around us and the violent thoughts these call up within ourselves. It helps explain police brutality.

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

When We Yield to Inner Darkness

The Odyssey explores how violence can swallow up those who engage in it. Odysseus is heroic in that he can listen to religious checks when blood lust threatens.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , | Comments closed

Teach Beowulf to Combat Violence

To teach students how to understand and respond to violence, Beowulf is a go-to work.

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

“Beowulf” Understands U.S. Violence

 Thursday When I launched this blog over 10 years ago, I called it Better Living through Beowulf because Beowulf is the starting text for those of us specializing in British Literature. I used Beowulf to represent all of literature and felt free to write about any literary work that provides insight into the life we […]

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

Fantasy and the Problem of Violence

Thursday Today I will be delivering the following talk as part of Sewanee’s Lifelong Learning series, delivered in a venue that used to be my high school and where I spoke 50 years ago. It may sound strange to some of you that a literary scholar such as myself would talk about fantasy. Aren’t we […]

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