Crazy Kids: Rash teenage behavior in Romeo and Juliet, Catcher in the Rye and a selection of Romeo and Juliet quotes Teens are notorious for being impulsive, hormone-driven and conflicted human beings. Though such a statement smacks of stereotyping, such portrayals have been justified by science—just ask any neuroscientist how the teen brain reacts to a deluge of testosterone or… Read more
The Scheming Tom Sawyer and Hamlet Every myth has its trickster character. In the Greek tradition, you’ve got Hermes. In Roman mythology, there is Mercurius. In many native American folklore, you have the coyote. And in the American literary tradition? Well, we’ve got Tom Sawyer. Technically, Mark Twain’s famous mischievous but lovable character is not a myth, but nonetheless, we… Read more
Hamlet and Romeo Have Tea with Holden Caulfield: Inside Fan-Fiction Fan fiction has grown in popularity over the last decade. Gone are the days when the audience believed that a character’s fate was strictly in the hands of its creator; now they seem to believe that they can decide the future (or at the very least, an alternate reality) of… Read more
Is The Great Gatsby the Great American Novel? The concept of the “Great American Novel” is so pervasive that it has become something of a cliché. Burned-out businessmen and frustrated housewives and everyone in between has said that they’ll take time out to write it, but what if it’s already been written? What it it’s a book that almost every… Read more
William Shakespeare’s Macbeth contains a lotof life lessons. Number one: Don’t listen to stranger bearded women when wandering through a fog. Number two: Never let anyone bully you into doing something you don’t want to, even if it’s your wife. And Number 3? If you want to become king, the kill-everything-in-your-path strategy, while seemingly effective, is bound to backfire. Macbeth… Read more
Pink Floyd was wrong. Very wrong. So wrong in fact that its famous lyric, “We don’t need no education,” is an assault on the ears of anyone who considers themselves to be grammar aficionados. As ironically implied by its error-laden sentence, Pink Floyd was definitely wrong about needing education. They needed it and we need it too, especially that now-a-days,… Read more
Ah, parties. Who doesn’t love a good party? You’ve got awesome food, drinks, cool people, loud music and unrestrained hijinks abound. Beyond being an opportunity to go buck wild or to be a social animal, parties also serve a purpose of potential serendipity. What we mean is that the human celebratory party is the setting for chance interactions and… Read more
Endurance is a virtue that we, as a Westernized society, place a great deal of worth in. To withstand intense pain, strife or just plain unpleasantness—or even muster up the strength to resist an endlessly tempting pint of Ben & Jerry’s Chubby Hubby—is to be respected, appreciated and at times, worshipped. History is littered with examples of those elevated super-humans… Read more
Starting this week, I’ve got a new feature on Monday afternoons. Remember the great article I posted on Romeo and Juliet from the folks at Shmoop? Well, they are going to be back every week with a new article related to books, authors and readers. I am really looking forward to seeing what they come up with, and I want… Read more