I always thought this play was pretty silly, but this time around I appreciated what good fun it is. “Lord, what fools these mortals be!” The seeming randomness of the direction love’s arrows take works mayhem in a way that is all too real even with the element of magic thrown in, but since this …
Category: Literature
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/12/24/a-midsummer-nights-dream-by-william-shakespeare/
Dec 23 2014
Alias: Grace by Margaret Atwood
In the interest of disclosure, I have to say that I have never read a Margaret Atwood book that I didn’t like. There were some that disturbed me, made me think, made me wish such things didn’t exist to be written about, but I have always been glad for the experience. Part of her charm …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/12/23/alias-grace-by-margaret-atwood/
Dec 15 2014
The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare
Some people come away from this play with the impression that it is anti-semitic, but Shakespeare puts such eloquent defenses and rebuttals in the mouth of Shylock, on behalf of himself and his people, that for me the charge does not ring true. The more serious theme of this drama is the balance, at times …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/12/15/the-merchant-of-venice-by-william-shakespeare/
Nov 10 2014
Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler
As Stalin’s purges neared their apogee, show trials in Moscow featured heroes of the Russian Revolution confessing to the most astonishing things: that they had conspired with foreign powers, that they had plotted to kill Stalin; that they had knowingly and willfully wrecked whole sectors of the economy; and more. How could these men — …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/11/10/darkness-at-noon-by-arthur-koestler/
Oct 25 2014
The MaddAddam Trilogy by Margaret Atwood
Yes, another dystopian novel (trilogy) by the intelligent and tricksy Margaret Atwood. The three books, in order, are Oryx and Crake, The Year of the Flood, and MaddAddam. I read good reviews about it, and bad reviews about it, and lukewarm reviews about it, but in the end all that matters is that I enjoyed …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/10/25/the-maddaddam-trilogy-by-margaret-atwood/
Sep 20 2014
A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
Walker Percy’s foreword to the book cannot be bettered: Perhaps the best way to introduce this novel — which on my third reading of it astounds me even more than the first — is to tell of my first encounter with it. While I was teaching at Loyola in 1976 I began to get telephone …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/09/20/a-confederacy-of-dunces-by-john-kennedy-toole/
Sep 12 2014
The Chronicles of the Black Company by Glenn Cook
“The Chronicles of the Black Company ” is a dark epic fantasy by Glenn Cook. It depicts the travels of the Black Company a band of ruthless mercenaries as they switch from side to side. It is told in the voice of the Company’s surgeon and chronicler who’s fantasies about the ruling lady take him …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/09/12/the-chronicles-of-the-black-company-by-glenn-cook/
Apr 19 2012
King John by William Shakespeare
This play is surprisingly good for one of Shakespeare’s lesser known works. It is a story of shifting alliances and treachery in a world that is constantly uncertain. Surprisingly, a character known simply as “the Bastard,” who is surely fictional, is the central and most sympathetic character in the story, proving himself a pole of …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2012/04/19/king-john-by-william-shakespeare/
Aug 12 2011
Death on the Installment Plan by Louis-Ferdinand Celine
Celine has a way of writing about perfectly horrible experiences in a way that makes you laugh out loud. This book is a work of genius, although not quite as good as *Journey to the End of Night*. It’s too bad he didn’t write more. He has an uncanny way of finding humor in all …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2011/08/12/death-on-the-installment-plan-by-louis-ferdinand-celine-2/
Oct 22 2010
Coriolanus by William Shakespeare
The title character is that rare example of a man who is honorable to the point where his honor is insufferable. He distinguishes himeself in war–no small thing among the naturally warlike Romans–but cannot abide lowering himself to curry favor with the public. The story features some memorable passages from both the popular and the …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2010/10/22/coriolanus-by-william-shakespeare/
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The Shire