In this blog post, we’ll explore Zora Neale Hurston’s life and work, and how Alice Walker, along with Black feminism and academia, brought her back from being a hidden master in literary history to a central figure. Rediscovered Artists: Bach, de La Tour, Hurston There are people who fade from public memory after their passing, only to make a spectacular comeback when suddenly thrust back...
How did Lawrence, the miner’s son, depict the decline of Western civilization through the women he fell in love with?
In this blog post, we’ll take a closer look at the life of Lawrence—who was born the son of a miner and channeled his pain and inner conflict into his writing—and, in particular, examine the sharp insights into Western civilization, war, and love conveyed by the women he loved. A Miner’s Son Becomes a Writer Lawrence was born in 1885 in Eastwood, a coal-mining village in Nottinghamshire...
How did Jonathan Swift use ‘Gulliver’s Travels’ to denounce war and Britain’s colonial rule over Ireland?
In this blog post, we’ll examine how Swift’s aversion to war and his criticism of the colonization of Ireland were embodied in the cynical satire of ‘Gulliver’s Travels’ through an exploration of his life and literary background. Life and Early Background Jonathan Swift was born on November 30, 1667, in Dublin, Ireland. Swift attributed his birth there to chance, identifying...
Who is Jean Webster, and what is her work about?
This blog post covers Jean Webster’s life, as well as an analysis and review of her novel ‘Daddy-Long-Legs’. Author and Work Analysis Jean Webster was born on July 24, 1876, in Fredonia, New York. Her father was a publisher who had published Mark Twain’s famous novel ‘The Adventures of Tom Sawyer’, and her mother, Mark Twain’s niece, was known for her wit. Webster...
Why Should We Embrace Lovecraft’s Bizarre World?
In this blog post, we’ll examine what philosophical questions and perceptions of reality Lovecraft’s bizarre world encompasses beyond mere horror, and explore its significance. Five Works That Define Lovecraft’s World The works I reviewed this time are “The Outsider,” “The Rats in the Walls,” “The Call of Cthulhu,” “The Whisperer in the Darkness,” and “The Color Out of Space”—five stories...
Why did Virgil’s ‘Aeneid’ build upon the ‘Iliad’ and ‘Odyssey’ to create the founding myth of Rome?
In this blog post, we’ll examine how Virgil, through the ‘Aeneid’, drew upon Homer’s ‘Iliad’ and ‘Odyssey’ to transform the fall of Troy into the founding narrative of Rome. In Search of the ‘Aeneid’ After reading the ‘Iliad’ and the ‘Odyssey’ and then encountering the ‘Aeneid’, it’s easy to assume that the...
Why Did Yerofeyev’s ‘Train from Moscow to Petushki’ Become a Classic of Soviet Literature?
In this blog post, we’ll explore how the formal ingenuity of this work—which spread through samizdat—and Yerofeyev’s tumultuous life intertwined to create the utopia of Petushki. The Work and First Impressions To most readers, the name Benedict Vasilyevich Yerofeyev (1938–1990) and the title ‘The Train from Moscow to Petushki’ will likely feel somewhat unfamiliar. While Moscow...
How does Antonio Muñoz Molina’s ‘The Polish Cavalry’ intertwine personal memory with modern Spanish history?
In this blog post, using Mahina as a setting, we explore how generational memories and silences shape individual identities and narratives in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War, through the narrative structure and main characters of ‘The Polish Cavalry’. Overview of the Author and Work Antonio Muñoz Molina is an author who began his career in earnest in the late 1980s and...
Why does Stendhal’s ‘The Red and the Black’ use the rise and fall of Julien Sorel to expose the social ills of 1830s France?
In this blog post, we’ll take a closer look at how Stendhal’s ‘The Red and the Black’ reveals the social injustices and class conflicts of the late Restoration period through the ambition and tragedy of Julien Sorel. About the Author, Stendhal Stendhal’s real name was Marie Henri Beyle. “Stendhal” was merely one of the approximately 170 pen names he used; he chose this...
How does Snorri Sturluson’s Prose Edda capture the truth of Germanic mythology?
In this blog post, I’ll briefly summarize how the origins and structure of the Prose Edda, combined with skaldic poetry and the historical context of Snorri’s time, worked together to preserve and pass down Germanic mythology. What is the Prose Edda? This book, commonly translated as ‘The Prose Edda’, was written by the medieval Icelandic scholar and poet Snorri Sturluson...