An ordinary man discovers a terrible secret: he is living in a nightmare. Yossarian, the war pilot protagonist from Joseph Heller’s novel Catch-22, finds himself … Read More ›
We talk too much and so often too loudly without listening. I blame social media and Bravo TV for part of this, along with our ever-growing self-absorption. Through these time-consuming forms of adult entertainment, people now believe that talking over others, loudness and vulgarity, and attacking without listening make a point. P.J. O’Rourke once asked who thought it would be a good idea to create a means of communication like social media that would expose the world to what everyone thinks. When I was a kid, we had a bar soap called Lava. The ad for it read, “Lava, with Pumice.” It was the grittiest soap, like real ground lava with shards of glass thrown in for good measure. It got the dirt and grime off, along with a couple of layers of skin. Heaven help you if you tried…
Charlotte Brontë’s second novel, Shirley, has not had the lasting fame of her first, yet at the time of its publishing and for years to … Read More ›
Half-British, half-French, all-around traveler, scholar, and satirist Hilaire Belloc published Path to Rome in 1902. It chronicles his pilgrimage from France, over the Alps, and … Read More ›
Continuing from our previous session. The world is complex. To say it is irreducibly complex is no exaggeration; every aspect of nature speaks to overarching … Read More ›
Many commonly celebrate optimistic innovation as a source of historical progress. In this narrative, tradition hinders inevitable enlightenment. Such a view can distort our own … Read More ›
Evil. It’s everywhere in popular culture. Ours is the land of movie and TV heroes and superheroes, after all. As much as the entertainment press … Read More ›
I welcome this opportunity to introduce the poetry of Seamus Heaney to those of you not already familiar with it and to say something about … Read More ›
Call to mind, if you will, the halcyon days at the good old university, drinking port and singing along to the Tom Lehrer songs, “Bright … Read More ›