Modern Revolutions Crave a Leviathan
This book by Dan Edelstein (Professor of French at Stanford Univ.) surveys the concept of what a revolution meant from ancient to recent times. A key finding he makes is…
Applying Comics Theory to Ancient texts
Over the centuries, the texts that have been rescued by time from ancient Greece and Rome have been studied in many ways. As human ingenuity is never lacking, Natalie Swain…
Homer’s Iliad 2.0
Anyone with even a passing interest in ancient Greece, or the foundation of Western literature, has read Homer’s Iliad. That original, from the mists of time more than 4,000 years…
The Tragedy of Queen Caroline
Queen Caroline was custom-made for the finest caricaturists who ever lived. Her husband, King George IV, decided to charge her with adultery shortly after becoming king in January 1820. The…
He knows everything in the world about Milton!
My headline is taken from a novel by Virginia Woolf (pictured here). In Mrs Dalloway (1925), the character named in the title is “someone who can’t understand the pleasures of…
THE WORLD WAS AT STAKE: Churchill and De Gaulle
In the changing fortunes of fate, Charles de Gaulle “has become a unifying force in France. Winston Churchill, on the other hand, is now a figure of controversy again.” How…
NIETZSCHE: more timely now than ever
Friedrich Nietzsche was the most eclectic thinker since the Greek philosopher Plato. Or perhaps I ought to say—in order to avoid absolute judgements—one of the most eclectic thinkers, since Mr.…
KING JAMES I: Love & Politics
With the publication of 2 new books, the avid bookhound now has the opportunity of reading nearly 1,000 pages about King James I of England. First under review here is…
Set Your Stout Hearts to Confront Adversity!
Anyone who knows of Rome will be familiar with Lucilius, Horace, Persius and Juvenal. These great poets wrote satires that have influenced writers for 2,000 years. In this book, John…
The Choice of Odysseus or Penelope?
Image: Monteverdi This important contribution to Homeric studies is entitled The Choice of Odysseus. Due to reasons I will explain below, I added Penelope to the title in my headline.…