Books 4 weeks ago Why “Ulysses” Is Famous for Being Difficult (And Worth It) The Parallel to Homer “Ulysses” is based on Homer’s “Odyssey.” Leopold Bloom is Odysseus. Stephen Dedalus is Telemachus. Molly Bloom is Penelope. The novel has…
Books 4 weeks ago The Stoic Wisdom of “Meditations” by Marcus Aurelius The Stoic Worldview: Control What You Can Stoicism teaches that the universe is rational. It…
Books 4 weeks ago The Master and Margarita”: Bulgakov’s Satanic Satire Woland: The Devil as Gentleman Woland is the devil. He is not evil. He is…
Books 4 weeks ago The Southern Gothic of Flannery O’Connor’s Short Stories The Grotesque: The Body as Soul O’Connor’s characters are physically flawed. The Misfit has a…
Books 4 weeks ago Why “Slaughterhouse-Five” Is Kurt Vonnegut’s Anti-War Masterpiece The Firebombing of Dresden: The Unspeakable Event On February 13, 1945, Allied bombers destroyed the…
Books 4 weeks ago The Scarlet Letter”: Sin, Guilt, and Puritan Society Hester Prynne: The Adulteress as Heroine Hester is the novel’s hero. She is punished. She…
Books 4 weeks ago The Epistolary Art of “Dracula” and “Frankenstein” The Frame: Letters vs. Diaries “Frankenstein” is framed by letters from Robert Walton, an Arctic…
Books 4 weeks ago On the Road”: Jack Kerouac and the Beat Generation The Style: Spontaneous Prose Kerouac called his style “spontaneous prose.” He wrote without revising. He…
Books 4 weeks ago The Feminist Dystopia of Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale” Gilead: The World Turned Upside Down Gilead is not a fantasy. It is an extrapolation…
Books 4 weeks ago Anna Karenina”: The Tragedy of Adultery in Imperial Russia Anna Karenina: The Woman Who Dares Anna is not a villain. She is not a…
Books 4 weeks ago The Detective Formula Perfected in “The Hound of the Baskervilles” The Curse of the Baskervilles The novel begins with a legend. Sir Hugo Baskerville kidnapped…
Books 4 weeks ago “The Sun Also Rises”: Hemingway’s Lost Generation Jake Barnes: The Wounded Man Jake is the narrator. He was wounded in the war.…
Books 4 weeks ago The Colonial Critique of Chinua Achebe’s “Things Fall Apart” Okonkwo: The Tragic Hero Okonkwo is a tragic hero. He is great. He is flawed.…
Books 4 weeks ago “Invisible Man” by Ralph Ellison: Race and Identity in America The Prologue: I Am Invisible The novel begins with a famous prologue. The narrator lives…
Books 4 weeks ago The Poetic Prose of James Joyce’s “Dubliners” The Structure: Childhood, Adolescence, Maturity, Public Life The stories are arranged in four groups. The…
Books 4 weeks ago How “Frankenstein” Became the First Science Fiction Novel The Creation: Science Without Ethics Victor Frankenstein is a scientist. He is brilliant. He is…
Books 4 weeks ago The Grapes of Wrath”: Steinbeck’s Dust Bowl Epic The Joads: The Universal Family The Joads are a specific family. They are also every…
Books 4 weeks ago The Cold War Paranoia of John le Carré’s “The Spy Who Came in from the Cold” Alec Leamas: The Tired Spy Leamas is the anti-James Bond. He is middle-aged. He is…
Books 4 weeks ago Dracula” by Bram Stoker: The Birth of the Vampire Genre The Epistolary Form: Letters and Diaries “Dracula” is an epistolary novel. It is told through…
Books 4 weeks ago The Wit and Wisdom of Oscar Wilde’s “The Picture of Dorian Gray” Lord Henry Wotton: The Devil’s Advocate Lord Henry is the novel’s most dangerous character. He…
Books 4 weeks ago Middlemarch”: George Eliot’s Web of Provincial Life Dorothea Brooke: The Saint Who Fails Dorothea is the novel’s moral center. She is intelligent,…
Books 4 weeks ago The Epic Fantasy Blueprint of J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings” The World: Middle-earth as Myth Tolkien was a philologist. He studied languages. He invented languages…
Books 4 weeks ago The Stranger” by Albert Camus: Absurdism on Every Page Meursault: The Outsider Meursault is the stranger of the title. He is strange to himself.…
Books 4 weeks ago The Haunting Atmosphere of Daphne du Maurier’s “Rebecca” The Narrator: The Girl Without a Name The narrator is never named. She is called…
Books 4 weeks ago The Odyssey”: The Foundation of Western Literature The Hero: Odysseus of Many Turns Odysseus is not the strongest Greek hero. Achilles is…
