"Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon" -fictional proverb The year was 1948. The New Yorker Magazine was celebrating its 23rd anniversary when it published a disturbing little story called "The Lottery." The story was to cause decades of controversy. At the time, The New Yorker apparently did not distinguish between works of fact or … Continue reading On Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery”
Tag: books
On The Idea of Home in Housekeeping
Housekeeping is a novel that celebrates the idea of the commonplace, the everyday, and the ordinary, yet somehow it is not a vulgar or an ugly work. Instead, Housekeeping brings to life the experience of solitude, oddity, and simplicity. The novel unfolds slowly, revealing the seasons of life through the eyes of Ruth, the novel's … Continue reading On The Idea of Home in Housekeeping
Introduction to Macbeth
In all likelihood The Tragedie of Macbeth was first performed in 1606 at the court of King James I. Its first public performance likely occurred at the Globe Theatre in 1611 (a review of this performance was given by the sometimes misleading astrologer, Simon Forman). Macbeth was first published in Shakespeare's First Folio of 1623, … Continue reading Introduction to Macbeth
The Haunting Waters of A River Runs Through It
"In our family, there was no clear line between religion and fly fishing" (opening lines). Anyone who has ever gone fly fishing knows it to be a complex art -almost spiritual in nature. Fly fishing forces a man to slow down, find rhythm, and discover patience and harmony with nature. In Norman Maclean's A River … Continue reading The Haunting Waters of A River Runs Through It
The Meaning of Innocence in To Kill A Mockingbird
"'...before I can live with other folks I've got to live with myself. The one thing that doesn't abide by majority rule is a person's conscience'" (105). I have always loved To Kill A Mockingbird. It is a gentle and compassionate novel confronting a difficult subject matter -the issue of racism in America. As I … Continue reading The Meaning of Innocence in To Kill A Mockingbird
The Sicilian Expedition: Alcibiades and Nicias in Thucydides’s Peloponnesian War (Books VI-VII)
Thucydides claims the Peloponnesian War is the greatest event or movement in human history, and the most important part of this great war takes place in Books VI-VII: The ill-fated Sicilian Expedition. The Sicilian Expedition represents the turning point in the war. Thucydides begins to explain the expedition by offering a history of the origins … Continue reading The Sicilian Expedition: Alcibiades and Nicias in Thucydides’s Peloponnesian War (Books VI-VII)
