“On Friday noon, July the twentieth, 1714, the finest bridge in all Peru broke and precipitated five travelers into the gulf below.” Thornton Wilder captures the sublime in one tragic, yet undeniably significant moment in The Bridge of San Luis Rey. The novel was first published in 1927, between the world wars, and it was … Continue reading Experiencing the Sacred in The Bridge of San Luis Rey
Month: July 2018
Touch of Evil
Touch of Evil (1958) Director: Orson Welles Touch of Evil is another terrific film noir which Welles wrote, starred in, and directed (though parts of it were, again, chopped up by the studio). This was Welles's fifth Hollywood film, his final American film. It has sometimes been called the last great 'film noir' from the … Continue reading Touch of Evil
Case Study: Neoclassicism, “The Death of Socrates”
"The Death of Socrates" or "La Morte de Socrate" is perhaps the most famous painting from the French artistic epoch dubbed the Neoclassical period. It is an oil on canvas painting, created in 1787 by Jacques Louis David (1748-1925, pronounced "Jahk Lewie Dahveed"), one of the main artists of the "Neoclassical" style. Our initial observations … Continue reading Case Study: Neoclassicism, “The Death of Socrates”
Notes on Plato’s Crito
Plato's short dialogue, Crito, takes place chronologically following the Apology of Socrates, in which Socrates is sentenced and condemned to death. However, shortly after his imprisonment, a galley from Athens had set out for Delos in the Aegean, sacred to Apollo, and while the ship was away it was forbidden for anyone to be executed. Socrates remained … Continue reading Notes on Plato’s Crito
Thoughts on the Trial of Socrates and the Socratic Project
The Apology of Socrates is the portal by which we enter the Platonic cosmos. In it, we find the raison d'être of Socrates's life and work. Was it political? Was it philosophic? Both? Socrates gives us clues to his project in his famous defense at his trial in 399 BC. We begin first with a preliminary discussion. We … Continue reading Thoughts on the Trial of Socrates and the Socratic Project
The Informer
The Informer (1935) Director: John Ford The Informer was one of the biggest films of 1935. It is a suspenseful, almost noir-styled, RKO film. It takes place during the Irish War of Independence in the 1920s, based on the novel of the same name by Liam O'Flaherty. It was nominated for 8 Academy Awards and … Continue reading The Informer
