In my recent literature class at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (University of Richmond), I advised my students not to try to read Hemingway’s Short Stories, for the first
Understanding Ernest Hemingway’s Short Stories: Part I
Although many literary critics have concluded that Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961) was one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century, others find his work remote, depressing, and difficult to grasp.
The Dreams and Disappointments Of Mice and Men
Steinbeck harvested the title of his 1937 novel, Of Mice and Men from a theme of the famous 1785 poem, “To a Mouse, On Turning Her Up in Her Nest With
Murray’s Article on Teaching Travels with Charley Posted on SteinbeckNow.Com
After visiting the Steinbeck National Center in Salinas, California in the Spring and contacting William Ray, the Editor of the author’s website, Steinbecknow.com, I proposed to submit an article to
First Discovering A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Author Betty Smith, who published A Tree Grows in Brooklyn in 1943, wrote: “It doesn’t take long to write things of which you know nothing. When you write of actual
Poe Museum’s Garden “To One in Paradise”
“Don’t think that you are in the middle of one of Poe’s most shocking horror stories (“The Black Cat”) if you come across one or two of the coal-colored cats (Edgar
Poe’s Cryptographic Imagination-Part II: It Took a Modern Computer Programmer to Unravel Poe’s Last Unsolved Puzzle!
“Tyler’s” letter proposes two additional challenging ciphers— and these were the only “legitimate” ones that Poe was never able to solve.” Poe published several columns on Cryptography, which he
Poe’s Cryptographic Imagination – Part I
Excerpts from Murray’s VCU Master of Arts Thesis on Poe and Science © 2015. Reprinted from www.thepoeblog.org (Website of the Poe Museum of Richmond, VA)-Feb 2018 Ancient Egyptians used hieroglyphics to
Why Did Steinbeck Write The Grapes of Wrath?
In last week’s class, I asked my students at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Richmond, if they knew why John Steinbeck wrote The Grapes of Wrath.