I just finished leading a series of eight classes on Mark Twain’s books, The Prince and the Pauper, and Tom Sawyer at the Lifelong Learning Institute in Chesterfield, Virginia. In discussing
Category: Literature
My Favorite Characters in Literature
I’m not saying this is a conclusive list of the most notable characters in Literature. These are, however, the ones that stand out the most in my mind. Of
Poe’s “Oval Portrait” and The Picture of Dorian Gray
After reading Oscar Wilde’s, The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890), I was struck by how much his theme about the value of art resembled the one found in Poe’s
Shakespeare’s, A Merchant of Venice at England’s Agecroft Hall in Virginia
Agecroft Hall, one of the world’s oldest examples of original Tudor architecture, was once part of a larger estate that was established in Lancashire, England in about 1292. This was around
The Marriage of Opposites by Alice Hoffman: A Book Review
Ann Luck is an active member of the Lifelong Leaning Institute in Midlothian, Virginia, who has participated in several of my literature classes there. She was so impressed by her
What is the Purpose of the Opening Epigrams of Oscar Wilde’s, The Picture of Dorian Gray?
Introduction to The Portrait of Dorian Gray I will be leading a private book club discussion this summer on the novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. To ease
The Sun Also Rises: Hemingway’s Post-Modern Tragicomedy – Part II
Reviewed from Part I Lady Bullfighter In my wrap-up class of The Sun Also Rises , I asked my students if they thought that the book was either a tragedy or
Tragicomedy: From King Lear to Hemingway – Part I
In my wrap-up class of The Sun Also Rises , I asked students if they thought the book was a tragedy or a comedy. One argued that it wasn’t a tragedy
Blurred-Lines of Sexual Identity in Hemingway’s, The Sun Also Rises
Ernest Hemingway questions many of the deeply entrenched Pre-World War I concepts of masculine and feminine sexual identity in his novel, The Sun Also Rises. His masculine code dictates that
Was Hemingway a Bullfighting Aficionado?
We are first introduced to the term “Aficionado” in Chapter 13 of Ernest Hemingway’s, The Sun Also Rises. Hemingway uses the term when Jake Barnes, Hemingway’s fictionalized version of himself, along with
