Philosophy
Last week a friend made the claim that Stephen King will be remembered as the 20th century's Charles Dickens. The trivial comparison, of course, would have been to say the 20th century's Poe, but when you think of commercial success and output as well as the ability to locate the deeply entrenched, but easily overlooked concerns of the times, the Dickens comparison is extremely apt.
It started me thinking about what other such comparisons could be made. Philip Roth as the 20th century H.L. Mencken? Norman Mailer as the 20th century Proust? Truman Capote as the 20th century Goethe? What apt anachronistic comparisons can you think of?
- Modern Mencken
Tomorrow is Mencken day at the Enoch Pratt Library, honoring one of the great intellects of Baltimore. Who would be the modern day version of H.L. Mencken? Is there a writer who is smart, ascerbic, conservative, and wry? P.J. O'Rourke? ...
- Can You Really Own A Position?
I've been thinking about the use of the verb to own with respect to an intellectual view. When a student is being wishy-washy about a proposition he or she is arguing for and clearly believes, I'll tell the student to "own the position." ...
- Grammar Curmudeons
Had a student ask yesterday about grammatical pet peeves. His was "irregardless." My big three are: 1) "Quote" used for "quotation." Quote is a verb. You quote someone. What you write down is not a quote, but a quotation. ...
- A Tale Of Two Cultures
On Charles Dickens' 200th birthday, let's ask whether we are living in a tale of two cultures. A colleague came back from Europe six months and was fascinated that people were asking about "American spring," comparing the Occupy movement...
- The Political Power Of Humor
I should have put this up as a comedist post this weekend, but never got around to it. I've been thinking about the political power of humor. We've been discussing the legacy of the Occupy movement around the department and while I...
Philosophy
Anachronistic Literary Comparisons
Last week a friend made the claim that Stephen King will be remembered as the 20th century's Charles Dickens. The trivial comparison, of course, would have been to say the 20th century's Poe, but when you think of commercial success and output as well as the ability to locate the deeply entrenched, but easily overlooked concerns of the times, the Dickens comparison is extremely apt.
It started me thinking about what other such comparisons could be made. Philip Roth as the 20th century H.L. Mencken? Norman Mailer as the 20th century Proust? Truman Capote as the 20th century Goethe? What apt anachronistic comparisons can you think of?
- Modern Mencken
Tomorrow is Mencken day at the Enoch Pratt Library, honoring one of the great intellects of Baltimore. Who would be the modern day version of H.L. Mencken? Is there a writer who is smart, ascerbic, conservative, and wry? P.J. O'Rourke? ...
- Can You Really Own A Position?
I've been thinking about the use of the verb to own with respect to an intellectual view. When a student is being wishy-washy about a proposition he or she is arguing for and clearly believes, I'll tell the student to "own the position." ...
- Grammar Curmudeons
Had a student ask yesterday about grammatical pet peeves. His was "irregardless." My big three are: 1) "Quote" used for "quotation." Quote is a verb. You quote someone. What you write down is not a quote, but a quotation. ...
- A Tale Of Two Cultures
On Charles Dickens' 200th birthday, let's ask whether we are living in a tale of two cultures. A colleague came back from Europe six months and was fascinated that people were asking about "American spring," comparing the Occupy movement...
- The Political Power Of Humor
I should have put this up as a comedist post this weekend, but never got around to it. I've been thinking about the political power of humor. We've been discussing the legacy of the Occupy movement around the department and while I...