Archive for the ‘Psychoanalysis’ Category

PoemsPoliticsPsychoanalysisSpirituality

March 5, 2017

Puzzling

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A lot of my friends tell me they are coloring.  It’s a thing, isn’t it, Adult Coloring. Some are binge-watching anything with a good story and lots of episodes.  Almost everyone is taking an anti-depressant.  I suspect there’s a fair amount of self-medicating with sugar. It’s a surreal time. Me, I’m doing jigsaw puzzles (and  Read the Rest…

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December 29, 2016

Winter on Whidbey Island

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I’m up on Whidbey Island writing a novel.  I have no idea how to write a novel.  This novel actually began in 1997 with a very long short story that I thought would develop itself.  I thought a novel would spool from my imagination without my having to think about anything like structure or an  Read the Rest…

BooksEnglandLiteraturePsychoanalysisWorld War II

March 21, 2015

Between Silk and Cyanide

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I’ve been having World War II at my house for the last several months: the war as seen through the eyes of the French Resistance. I’ve read so many biographies of spies that I am beginning to get them all mixed up. One book I am not likely to ever forget, however, is called Between  Read the Rest…

BooksLiteraturePoemsPsychoanalysisSpiritualityThe Norton Anthology

November 15, 2013

Fun With Mephistophilis

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I remember being vaguely amused by Doctor Faustus when I was in college, but the language was difficult for a 20 year old. Reading about the antics of Faust and Mephistopheles as I plowed through the verbiage was rather like trying earnestly to understand a joke.  I worked at understanding it and had it explained  Read the Rest…

BooksLiteraturePoemsPoliticsPostsPsychoanalysisThe Norton Anthology

October 3, 2013

In Which I Take on the Wife of Bath

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I’d heard about this woman: sexually voracious, loud mouth, obscene, headstrong, selfish, power-hungry, and immoral. I was eager to meet her. News flash: she is none of those things in my estimation. Here, word for word, is how we might expect to describe a man similar in nature to the wife of Bath: man of  Read the Rest…

BooksLiteraturePoemsPsychoanalysisThe Norton Anthology

June 30, 2013

Romantic Imprisonments

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I just spent a week getting reacquainted with Byron—George Gordon, Lord Byron–and the magic wasn’t happening. When I was in college, he was my favorite of all the romantic poets because he was easiest to understand and he was funny. This mid-life trek through the Norton anthology is highlighting how much I have changed: my  Read the Rest…

BooksEnglandLiteraturePoemsPsychoanalysisThe Norton AnthologyTravel

June 15, 2013

Wordy Wordsworth

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A week ago I would have told you that I loved William Wordsworth. After reading the selections in the Norton Anthology of English Literature, I have concluded that it’s only a few of his poems that I love, and a few lines from here and there. I was all excited to read The Prelude because  Read the Rest…

BooksLiteraturePsychoanalysis

March 20, 2013

And Again I say, Re:Joyce

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In my last blog post I was a week away from the Just Off Broadview Music Festival and more or less losing my mind with trying to control its outcome.  If you recall, my friend Mary-Ellis had counseled me to do something else, to think about something else.  I did.  I started reading the psychoanalyst  Read the Rest…

PsychoanalysisShakespeare

July 16, 2012

The Winter’s Tale

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“A sad tale’s best for winter.” With King Lear still in my system, it was hard to find a nook in which to lodge The Winter’s Tale. Then I didn’t think I had anything much to say about it, but something came to me during a church service.  First, here’s the sad tale for winter:  Read the Rest…

PsychoanalysisShakespeare

July 12, 2012

King Lear

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One thing I have to say about King Lear is that if you watch the play on DVD, it doesn’t enhance the experience to be eating grapes during the eye gouging scene. It’s a difficult play beyond some of the barbarous and frankly crazy scenes.  I read it twice and watched two different versions of  Read the Rest…