Daily Archives: July 20, 2009

Mental Health Break

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John Keats on the 1781 Discovery of Uranus

In a Slate.com review of Richard Holmes’s new book on Romanticism and science, the reviewer notes a reference to astronomer William Herschel’s discovery of the planet Uranus in one of John Keats’s sonnets: In Keats’ sonnet “On First Looking Into … Continue reading

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Freedom from Fear: Why Obamacare Messes Up the Republican Agenda

Yale economist John Roemer on the potential benefits of universal health care in the United States: Suppose, for example, that America succeeds in implementing universal health insurance; that is, that voters in their majority demand it. A more pleasant society … Continue reading

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What’s Literature Good For?

Sometimes people ask, “What’s the value of literature—of reading poems, stories, and plays? In other words, why might one go to literature for sustenance or reflection, as opposed to something else?” One of the reasons a person might “go to literature” is akin … Continue reading

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Irony, Eros, Thanatos, and Dionysus

Against this bucolic depiction, Dionysus, circa 70 CE, would soon be interrupting idyllic Pompeii with the volcanic eruption of Mt. Visuvius:

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Jeff Locker, Eros, and Thanatos: What Motivated the Stabbed Motivational Speaker?

An old, old story? Forbidden eros once again translates into thanatos (death)? According to the AP, stabbed to death motivational speaker, Jeff Locker, may have been deceiving his wife about his own, er, motivations for being out so late: [Locker] told his wife that … Continue reading

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