Tag: literature

Melvin the Magnificent

Melvin the Magnificent The Tale of a Valiant Canadian Mouse – And magnificently we will flow into the mystic. Van Morrison Chapter One: A Young Rodent’s Dream Once upon a time there lived a tiny grey mouse named Melvin. Melvin resided with his family in Mississauga, Canada. They were fortunate rodents. They inhabited a pleasant …

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Incomparable: The Nobel Prize of Bob Dylan

  I got my back to the sun ’cause the light is too intense I can see what everybody in the world is up against      – Sugar Baby   The Nobel Prize for Literature at last has been awarded to the most important and most influential author of the post-World War II era.   …

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Identity & Society: Character & Consciousness in Pride and Prejudice & The Story of the Stone [红楼梦]

Identity & Society:  Character & Consciousness in Pride and Prejudice & The Story of the Stone [红楼梦] Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask and he will tell you the truth. – Oscar Wilde   I. Consequence in a Story A Haunting Passage in a Brilliant Novel Cao …

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The Boy Who Was Odd

Chapter 1. Oddball Benjamin learned he was Odd when he was in the fifth grade. He never had fit in well with other children. Especially with other boys. They thought he was too small, too clumsy, too gentle, and too bookish. Each year Benjamin grew, but every year he remained smaller than his classmates. Not …

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In Memoriam: Lionel & Diana Trilling At Columbia University – With Guest Appearances By Quentin Anderson & Edward W. Said

You were the one who imagined it all, All those years ago.           – George Harrison This essay was originally written for EXPLORATIONS, and is dedicated to its editor, Maurice DuQuesnay: devoted guardian of the flame.                                    …

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Not Dark Yet: Robert Pack’s Laughter Before Sleep

The original version of this essay was written for Explorations (Flora Levy Foundation, University of Louisiana-Lafayette) as a review of Laughter Before Sleep, by Robert Pack (Chicago, The University of Chicago Press, 2011). Page references appear in parentheses following citations.   I was born here and I’ll die here against my will I know it …

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“Who Made Me?”: The Autobiography of John Stuart Mill

“Who Made Me?”: The Autobiography of John Stuart Mill -The question “Who Made Me?” cannot be answered. A version of this essay first appeared in Prose Studies (London, Frank Cass), v. 5, September 1982, No. 2. WordPress does not support footnotes. I have attached a link following the essay’s conclusion. The link will take you …

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My Books

My book-length study of Joseph Conrad’s genius, its sources, and its enormous significance in the modern moral imagination is available from Amazon. For a sample chapter and ordering information, please click the link below: https://www.amazon.com/Language-Being-Joseph-Literature-Personality/dp/0231039999/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1513610433&sr=8-6&keywords=joseph+conrad+and+the+literature+of+personality

Jane Austen in PRIDE AND PREJUDICE

    “If I Were Determined To Get a Rich Husband”: Elizabeth Bennet, Jane Austen, and the Life of the Common Human Routine  ‘Your plan is a good one, where nothing is in question but the desire of being well married; and if I were determined to get a rich husband, or any husband, I …

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