Forgive the Trees: A Meditation on the Coming of Spring
The first day of spring was just a few days ago, but it never truly feels like spring to me until the leaves return. I am always…
We Shall Not All Sleep: Legacy and Resurrection in “The Once and Future King”
I may have grown up on Disney’s The Sword in the Stone and Mary Pope Osborne’s Magic Tree House series, but that does not make me an…
The Gods Do Not Visit Our Weddings: Sin and Salvation in Catullus
The Roman poet Catullus has a certain reputation—and, to be fair, he deserves it. His poems are best known for their total unsuitability for polite company, and…
The Time Being: W.H. Auden on Joy, Suffering, and the Space After Christmas
This year, more than any other year, my social media feed has been flooded with jokes about the limitless, uncountable, unmeasurable stretch of time between Christmas and…
Just This Once, Everybody Lives: Racine’s Iphigénie and Storytelling as Salvation
I grew up on Greek mythology in the way that some people grow up on Grimm’s fairy tales. To this day, I am sometimes surprised when I…
Ivan Karamazov’s Meth Lab: Dostoevsky’s Theology in Breaking Bad
In a modern media industry driven by box office profits and Netflix streaming numbers, it is difficult to find movies and television shows that deserve classification as…
Across the Great Sea: Moby-Dick and the Problem of Suffering
Having read Moby-Dick three times, I confess that I have read Moby-Dick three more times than your average twenty-something. Unusual though I may be, I am (mostly)…
Remember Me at My Best: Memory and Forgiveness in David Copperfield
As many coming-of-age stories do, Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield begins with a lonely child trying to find his way in the world. As a boy—lost, alone, and…