27th November 2009
"The Tragedy of Hamlet" is one of those plays that hovers around a thousand on the quotability meter. "To be, or not to be" and the ensuing inner debate on suicide is one of the earliest and most important moments of existentialism in Western literature. ...
26th November 2009
When Steven Crane wrote The Red Badge of Courage in 1895, he had never even been in a battle, let alone the American Civil War. Nevertheless, it's now considered one of the most accurate portrayals of war in literature - a characteristic that initially ti...
26th November 2009
For most of us, reading "The Catcher in the Rye" and "To Kill a Mockingbird" sticks out as a highlight of the high school lit experience. This ain't no Charles Dickens; both stories are narrated by young protagonists in everyday speak and are chock full o...
27th October 2009
Chinua Achebe is a multi award-winning Nigerian writer and one of the most important African authors of all time. He is also the most translated – which is saying something, considering that he writes in English specifically for the purpose of bridging ...
16th October 2009
Samuel Langhorn Clemens (better known as Mark Twain) and Franklin Delano Roosevelt don't seem to have especially much in common except for the fact that they are both as American as apple pie – which, true to form, is actually a British concoction. Both...
16th October 2009
For many, Halloween is the time to brave the consumer crowds, dress up like our favorite villains and superheroes, and invest in a dental plan. For those of us who are too old (or too sober) to put on a Halloween costume, however, this is the perfect time...
16th October 2009
J.D. Salinger's 1951 classic short story, "A Perfect Day for Bananafish," introduces Salinger's favorite character, Seymour Glass – only to kill him some several pages later. The story starts in a posh seaside hotel room, where we overhear Glass's wife ...
16th October 2009
"The Tragedy of Macbeth" and "The Tragedy of Hamlet" are Shakespeare’s most widely read plays featuring royalty as main characters. Both are about the violent overthrow of the throne, both contain plenty of needless casualties, and both are gruesome eno...
23rd September 2009
The year is 1955. The Fonz is blasting "Rock Around the Clock" on the jukebox and the McFlys are going steady thanks to a confused teen with a tricked-out DeLorean. Greasers and poodle skirts abound. America is prosperous, the middle class is enormous, su...
22nd September 2009
Americans may find themselves asking how gender equality – particularly in the workplace – can continue to be a struggle in the country whose constitution has inspired fledgling democracies the world over. Actually, the Constitution doesn’t ever gua...
22nd September 2009
Although The Great Gatsby is one of America’s most beloved and respected novels, the basic premise of the book is so simple that it could easily make for a bad sitcom: boy meets girl, boy loses girl, girl marries someone else, boy buys nearby mansion, t...
22nd September 2009
For most readers, “The Great Gatsby” is a story about mystery, intrigue, and deception. Even those big floating eyes on the book cover have an enigmatic, come-hither dreaminess. Gatsby is a mystifying figure who appears out of nowhere, buys a mansion,...
22nd September 2009
In 1966, Lyndon B. Johnson lauded that "it is the genius of our Constitution that under its shelter of enduring institutions and rooted principles there is ample room for the rich fertility of American political invention." This leeway for "political inv...
18th August 2009
Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 130” is unique in its unglamorous portrayal of the so-called “Dark Lady” to whom it is addressed. In it, the narrator offers us a startlingly generous list of differences between the Dark Lady and your stereotypical beauty:...
18th August 2009
Now that the fall semester is gearing up, you’re probably cooking up new ways of getting today’s students engaged in their studies. And since conducting class via Twitter sounds neither feasible nor appealing, it might be time to look into your other ...
