Author Archives: Tommy Collison

Friday Links, 5/21/21

Posted on May 21, 2021 by Tommy Collison

I’ve been reading and enjoying Not All Dead White Men, Donna Zuckerberg’s book on misogyny in the Classics. “[N]obody denies that our society owes a debt to the Greeks. The question is how that debt should be treated. Should we romanticize … Continue reading →

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Inchoate thoughts on Dante’s Inferno

Posted on May 21, 2021 by Tommy Collison

“Will you – should either head back to the world – bring comfort to my memory, which lies still lashed beneath the stroke of envious eyes?” Inferno, Canto 13.76-78. I’m about a third of the way through Inferno, just finished Canto 13, … Continue reading →

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Great Books Project, 6 months in

Posted on May 17, 2021 by Tommy Collison

I started reading the Classics around Thanksgiving 2020, and the half-year anniversary of reading the books passed me by. I strike the books off this list and am 10 books in, with Dante’s Inferno coming up as #11. Some quick thoughts: Best classic … Continue reading →

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Thursday Links, 5/13/21

Posted on May 13, 2021 by Tommy Collison

Maybe it’s just that it’s been a few days since I did one of these, but it seems like there’s a lot of material… An argument for deleting your Goodreads account. Sylvana Tomaselli, a tutor at St. John’s, discusses Mary … Continue reading →

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Similarities and Differences between The Iliad and Beowulf

Posted on May 12, 2021 by Tommy Collison

We spent a bit of time in a recent discussion series noting the similarities and differences between Beowulf, the character, and Hector and Achilles, the central characters of The Iliad. Similarities Both present a worldview where warriors are valorized. Both present a … Continue reading →

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Monday Links, 5/10/21

Posted on May 10, 2021 by Tommy Collison

I’ll write a longer thing on Beowulf shortly, but over the weekend I read Toni Morrison’s excellent essay “Grendel and His Mother,” which helped me understand the story more. Are star ratings worthwhile? Rebecca Futo Kennedy, a professor of ancient Greek … Continue reading →

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Thursday Links, 5/6/21

Posted on May 6, 2021 by Tommy Collison

Jeremy Tate on the classics for National Review. Ross Douthat: “Where have all the great thinkers gone?” Also, “Where have all the Great Works gone?” Top 10 creepiest gothic novels, if that’s your cup of tea… The movement to save the … Continue reading →

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Monday Links, 5/3/21

Posted on May 3, 2021 by Tommy Collison

Another argument added to the debate of “What Are the Classics For?“ Dr. Anika Prather, a Classics professor at Howard University, is talking about fundraising to save the Howard Classics department. There’s talk of a website being set up, which … Continue reading →

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Questions on The Canterbury Tales

Posted on May 2, 2021 by Tommy Collison

How do we pin down how Chaucer really feels about things? Can we do so? Where are the tensions in the stories, or among the characters? What do we make of one of the central tales, the Wife of Bath’s? … Continue reading →

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Wednesday Links, 4/28/21

Posted on April 28, 2021 by Tommy Collison

Summary and analysis of Agamemnon. “Like Prose’s essay on the Comey hearing for NYRB, The Vixen makes an implicit argument for good writing, and even good editing, as a form of political defiance.” David Goodman has a good quote in response to the … Continue reading →

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