Notes from Underground
Notes from Underground represents my transition from the novellas and stories of the heavy-hitter Russians to their longer and more involved work. The first section of Notes is a rebellion…
Dostoyevsky, The Gambler, and all the Big Important Russian Novels
I still have not read any of the Russian behemoths, but my experiences with the novellas of Tolstoy and now Dostoyevsky are making that a rather untenable position. The Gambler…
Heart of Darkness: Another Hike up the Literary Canon
Another piece of the canon that I’m just now getting to. Still not sure how I made it through my English undergrad without reading this. I guess professors are just…
Tender is the Night and Re-reading Gatsby, or “Yes, Francis, We Know You Want to be Old Money”
I almost didn’t make it through Tender is the Night. I think I only pushed through the god-awful first act because the book is considered Fitzgerald’s best, and I wanted…
Carl Jung’s “Psychology of the Unconscious” and the Value of Primary Texts
Jung’s seminal work is a treatise on the universal unconscious manifestations of the human libido, in religion, in art, and -most importantly- in religion and myth. Is there any reason…
Moby-Dick: or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Canon
I’ve been hearing the advice to “toss out the canon” given to readers more and more of late (most recently in Austin Kleon’s email newsletter). While I agree that there…