The Women of Troy Pat Barker (2021) If you can’t quite place the name Briseis, you can probably be excused. It’s not Hecuba or Hellen. It’s not Cassandra or Penelope. Briseis is simply a very minor character in The Iliad—albeit a significant one, since she is, according to Homer, the cause of the rift between Achilles… Continue reading The Women of Troy
Author: Jay Ruud
Charles Bukowski’s “Oh, Yes”
Sharpe’s Assassin
Sharpe’s Assassin Bernard Cornwell (2021) Bernard Cornwell has at least three great virtues as a novelist, and a writer of historical fiction particularly. The first is his meticulous attention to historical detail, in manners, clothing, and other aspects of material culture, but most of all in his descriptions of military encounters. Weaponry, fighting tactics, even,… Continue reading Sharpe’s Assassin
William Butler Yeats’ “Lapis Lazuli”
In Search of the Brontës
Sometimes travel can be pleasingly serendipitous, as it was for us when we traveled to West Yorkshire, to the town of Hebden Bridge, on the trail of my wife’s favorite, Sylvia Plath, and her husband, Ted Hughes. We soon discovered we were in fact a scant eight miles from the town of Haworth—where, it turns… Continue reading In Search of the Brontës
Nottingham, Sherwood, and the Legend of Robin Hood
If you grew up reading and/or watching tales of the great medieval outlaw hero Robin Hood robbing from the rich and giving to the poor, you probably dreamt of visiting Nottingham and Sherwood Forest. I knew I did. I watched the Richard Greene The Adventures of Robin Hood TV series (1955-59) when I was quite young (“Robin Hood,… Continue reading Nottingham, Sherwood, and the Legend of Robin Hood
Much Ado about Shakespeare’s Globe
If you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to get in your DeLorean or your Way-Back Machine and scoot back in time half a millennium or so to Tudor England, but aren’t sure you’d relish the lack of penicillin, unhealthy food preparation, and unsanitary waste management, you’ve got a chance right now to have… Continue reading Much Ado about Shakespeare’s Globe
Denise Levertov’s “Ikon: The Harrowing of Hell”
Edith Wharton’s New York
by Stacey Margaret Jones In the months before our April trip to New York City, we watched the HBO series The Gilded Age, and I listened to the companion podcast, hosted by one of the NYC historians on the Bowery Boys podcast, which I’ve subscribed to for years. I love the stories of “Old New York,” when Central… Continue reading Edith Wharton’s New York
