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Can Poetry Respond Adequately to Evil?
Outside one of Paris’s terrorist explosions Monday Seeking to articulate a response to the horrors in Paris while knowing that words will invariably come up short, I turned to a W. H. Auden poem that...
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We Risk Becoming Grendel’s Mother
Tuesday Last February, when fury against ISIS was burning hot following the beheading of American prisoners, I cautioned against becoming Grendel’s Mother. That caution is even more necessary today...
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ISIS Mastermind Like Mystery Cat Macavity
Macavity in “Cats” Wednesday Among the many stories emerging from the Paris massacres is the role that one man, the Belgian national Abdelhamid Abaaoud, played in these attacks and a number of earlier...
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When It Comes to Culture, Bet on France
John Oliver of HBO Thursday In a brilliant tirade against the Paris bombers, John Oliver of HBO gave a partially literary explanation as to why France will endure. ISIS may create temporary mayhem but...
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Obama Is to Trump as Albany Is to Goneril
Harries, Barber of Royal Shakespeare Company as Albany, Goneril Thursday Following the Paris terrorist attacks, I warned about how fear could lead to the rise of Grendel’s Mothers. Following the...
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The Terrible Beauty of Political Fanatics
Walter Paget, “Birth of the Irish Republic” Wednesday It’s not everyday that we see a television personality quoting a Yeats poem at length, but that’s what Chris Matthews of MSNBC did Wednesday night....
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The Dark Jinn Invade America
Tuesday A while back, while writing about 100 Years of Solitude, I speculated that electing Donald Trump may have been a case of America choosing spectacle over technocratic reason. Who wants “no...
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Islamic Philosophy vs. Muslim Fanatics
Islamic philosopher Ibn Rushd (a.k.a. Averroes) Spiritual Sunday Today I summarize the debate in Salman Rushdie’s fantasy novel Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights between two medieval...
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Browning Describes Incel’s Misogyny
Daniel Gabriel Rosetti, “Lady Lilith” Thursday Like many who have been following the horrific Toronto van attack and its aftermath, I am learning about “incels” for the first time. The more I learn,...
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