Literature

Some Thoughts on Halloween and Ray Bradbury 0
- Culture, Featured, Literature
- October 31, 2024
In 2015, blogger Amanda Russo posted a humorous piece “Why Halloween Is Actually A Pretty Weird Holiday.” As Russo says, on Halloween we encourage our kids to take candy from strangers. We threaten our neighbors with “Trick or Treat.” We spend a chunk of change buying and giving away sugary treats, often to people we
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What is Modern Malaise? Exploring Binx’s Search in ‘The Moviegoer’1
- Culture, Featured, Literature
- October 25, 2024
In Walker Percy’s National Book Award–winning novel The Moviegoer, the protagonist, a restless and dislocated stock broker, Binx Bolling, sets out on a search. It’s the eve of his 30th birthday, and his trips to the movies and flings with his various secretaries have failed to satisfy him. Adrift in a world where tradition is
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8 Works of Fiction You Should Read to Understand Religion 2
- Religion, Featured, Literature
- October 24, 2024
I know—even if you’re interested in expanding your understanding of religion, it’s intimidating to pick up a hefty tome like the Bible and start from scratch. It’s complex, it’s confusing, and what’s more, it’s ancient. But digging through concordances and theological treatises isn’t the only way. Sometimes the simplest (and most manageable) way to learn
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H.P. Lovecraft’s Politics 2
- Politics, Featured, Literature
- October 4, 2024
Howard Phillips Lovecraft is, it seems, as popular as ever. “The indie Lovecraftian game Dredge is getting a live-action movie adaptation,” reports Screen Rant. And that’s just one recent example of the horror pioneer’s enduring influence. In this light, it’s worth asking what Lovecraft’s writing promoted ideologically, and to judge what portions of his political thought are
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Don’t Skip the Boring Parts 2
- Literature, Featured, MomThink
- October 3, 2024
When I taught literature, I had to frequently remind my students not to skip the “boring parts” of the books—things like long paragraphs describing scenery in Dickens’ Oliver Twist or the long list of ships that appears near the beginning of The Iliad. I understand the temptation. When I was their age, I frequently skimmed
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Purposeless Masculinity in Beryl Bainbridge’s ‘The Birthday Boys’1
- Featured, History, Literature
- October 2, 2024
In the face of certain death, does being civilized matter? All the narrators of Beryl Bainbridge’s 1991 historical novel The Birthday Boys die. And still, knowing their deaths loom, they carry on with birthdays, religious practices, and virtues like loyalty and courage. Heavily based on real life diaries and letters, this novel is a hybrid
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