Cormac McCarthy’s Apocalyptic Vision
Tommy Lee Jones as Sheriff Ed Tom Bell When I think of contemporary writers who focus on violence the way that the Beowulf poet does, novelist Cormac McCarthy comes to mind. One novel of his you may...
View ArticleFather-Daughter Separation Dramas
Catherine Deneuve in Donkey Skin My wonderful daughter-in-law Betsy, in response to one of my posts about father-son relationships, began meditating about father-daughter relationships on her own...
View ArticleLit’s Ten Most Sensitive Guys
Terence Stamp as Billy Budd In Lake Woebegone, all the women are strong and all the men good looking. Last Monday I listed my ten favorite strong female characters in literature—or strong women that I...
View ArticleThe Peace of Wild Things
Tidewater swamp at St. Mary’s College of MD Spiritual Sunday I focus on humans’ relationship to nature in my Introduction to Literature course, and this past semester many students wrestled with the...
View ArticleCormac McCarthy’s Apocalyptic Vision
Tommy Lee Jones as Sheriff Ed Tom Bell When I think of contemporary writers who focus on violence the way that the Beowulf poet does, novelist Cormac McCarthy comes to mind. One novel of his you may...
View ArticleFather-Daughter Separation Dramas
Catherine Deneuve in Donkey Skin My wonderful daughter-in-law Betsy, in response to one of my posts about father-son relationships, began meditating about father-daughter relationships on her own...
View ArticleLit’s Ten Most Sensitive Guys
Terence Stamp as Billy Budd In Lake Woebegone, all the women are strong and all the men good looking. Last Monday I listed my ten favorite strong female characters in literature—or strong women that I...
View ArticleThe Peace of Wild Things
Tidewater swamp at St. Mary’s College of MD Spiritual Sunday I focus on humans’ relationship to nature in my Introduction to Literature course, and this past semester many students wrestled with the...
View ArticleHow To Reflect upon the Death Penalty
Matt Damon in “All the Pretty Horses” Sordid news regarding the death penalty continues to make its way into the national headlines. First there was the schizophrenic Missouri man missing twenty...
View ArticleBe Afraid of Trump’s Fear of Being Mocked
Tuesday Several reasons have been given for Donald Trump disavowing the Paris Climate Agreement, but one in particular stands out: he wanted to get back at those European leaders that he thought were...
View ArticleCormac McCarthy’s Apocalyptic Vision
Tommy Lee Jones as Sheriff Ed Tom Bell When I think of contemporary writers who focus on violence the way that the Beowulf poet does, novelist Cormac McCarthy comes to mind. One novel of his you may...
View ArticleFather-Daughter Separation Dramas
Catherine Deneuve in Donkey Skin My wonderful daughter-in-law Betsy, in response to one of my posts about father-son relationships, began meditating about father-daughter relationships on her own...
View ArticleLit’s Ten Most Sensitive Guys
Terence Stamp as Billy Budd In Lake Woebegone, all the women are strong and all the men good looking. Last Monday I listed my ten favorite strong female characters in literature—or strong women that I...
View ArticleThe Peace of Wild Things
Tidewater swamp at St. Mary’s College of MD Spiritual Sunday I focus on humans’ relationship to nature in my Introduction to Literature course, and this past semester many students wrestled with the...
View ArticleHow To Reflect upon the Death Penalty
Matt Damon in “All the Pretty Horses” Sordid news regarding the death penalty continues to make its way into the national headlines. First there was the schizophrenic Missouri man missing twenty...
View ArticleBe Afraid of Trump’s Fear of Being Mocked
Tuesday Several reasons have been given for Donald Trump disavowing the Paris Climate Agreement, but one in particular stands out: he wanted to get back at those European leaders that he thought were...
View ArticleFrom Frontier Racism to Wall Racism
Wednesday New Yorker writer Francisco Cantu has alerted me to an important book on the role that the frontier plays in the American imagination. Greg Gandin’s The End of the Myth: From the Frontier to...
View ArticleLicense to Act with Impunity
Illus. for Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian Monday I’ve been reflecting upon a recent E.J. Dionne column about living in “an age of impunity.” Borrowing the phrase from International Rescue Committee...
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