My students in British Literature and Composition have just begun a unit on late Renaissance/Restoration poetry.  We will read the following writers: John Donne Ben Jonson Andrew Marvell Robert Herrick Sir John Suckling John Milton Afterward, students will explicate a poem, something I was not aske...

In Part 1 of this examination of three ideas/trends that rose to prominence in the 19th century, we looked at the industrial revolution, social Darwinism, and postmillennialism and how they fueled each other to wreak enormous societal change. Today, we look at their effects on Western Christianity a...

ALBANY—Kirsten Gillibrand thinks New Yorkers are starting to get used to the idea that she’ll be a senator for a long time. “I think it’s happening already, I really do,� Ms. Gillibrand said in an interview on Feb. 14 as she ate a celery stick dipped in blue cheese at the end of a long day...

Most people have never considered the ideas I will be presenting this week. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone write on this subject (apart from me), either from a Christian or secular perspective. I believe with all my heart that what I write here today and in days to come is key to un...

My Oliver Twist review/bloggage is up at PBS' remotely connected blog. Please read and comment, there or here. And don't forget to tune in on Sunday Night. It's a really excellent production from the same director as Wuthering Heights (with some of the same cast members, too). Here's a taste: "I'm u...

Honore de Balzac - Caffeine There are some of us - myself included - who consider themselves addicted to caffeine. I get headaches if I don’t have a Diet Coke or coffee early enough in the day, and I definitely get cranky. But that’s nothing compared to Honore de Balzac. The famous Frenc...

A lot of literary geniuses happen to share my week of birth. Today we honor Chlarles Dickens--how appropriate, just as Dickensfest '09 prepares to be aired on PBS, and we honor Laura Ingalls Wilder, whom we all doubtless read and loved as a child. I've talked about Dickens a lot here and will be tal...

Google announced yesterday that they had extended their Book Search project to mobile, which means that they’ve turned iPhones and Android handsets into book readers. Which is a pretty cool concept, I’d say. The portfolio consists of 1.5 million free books that are in the public domain (...

It would be good enough that AMC is simply ponying up for a third (and presumably fourth and fifth) season of "Mad Men" for this summer, but I'm also becoming more and more confident that what's coming with it - a six-episode remake of "The Prisoner" - will also far from completely suck. On its surf...

I'd better write this review quickly lest I start to forget all 800-plus pages of this late-period Dickens extravaganza. So here goes. Little Dorrit's primary concern is the theme of imprisonment and freedom, and particularly the psychological toll that the former takes on people. Dickens plumbed hi...