The Wife of Bath is the most famous albeit the most troubling character in Chaucerian literature. As with other storytellers in The Canterbury Tales, we are initially given only her title: the “Wife of Bath.” Later we learn her name is Alysoun, and that she sometimes goes by the name…
Tag: art
1931 Pulitzer Prize Review: Years of Grace by Margaret Ayer Barnes
Reading through these early Pulitzer-Prize winners has offered me a fascinating glimpse into a slice of novels that yesteryear’s critics once held in high regard as the peak of American literary excellence in their day. And Margaret Ayer Barnes’s Years of Grace is no exception. This is a delightful novel…
On Clement’s Letter to the Corinthians
Clement of Rome is rumored to have been a disciple of Peter. He later became the representative, or “bishop,” of Rome, holding that office from about 88 AD until his death in 99 AD (per Tertullian). He was praised among many of the early Christian church leaders. Clement is considered…
Xenophon’s Perfect Country Gentleman in the Oeconomicus
The word “economics” comes down to us from the Greek meaning “household management” and the various contingents of the household. Thus the science of the economy is the science of the household or the estate. The title of Xenophon’s seminal but brief dialogue points us to the theme of the…