Tuesday, November 5, 2024

Upton Sinclair on the "Accomplishment" Imparted by the Finishing School

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A couple of years ago I wrote a post on Jane Austen's treatment of the theme of "the accomplished young lady ," and specifical...

The Teaching Life and its Hidden Psychological Costs

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One of the more interesting aspects of Upton Sinclair's study of the American school system The Goslings is his treatment of the situat...

Upton Sinclair's The Goslings and the Burden of Teaching English Composition

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In Upton Sinclair's rather exhaustively researched study of American education, The Goslings , Sinclair refers to the prevailing ideal o...

"Overeducated"

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I think we have all heard people toss around the term "overeducated"--usually as an epithet--but I suspect that few have given muc...

Why Does Popular Culture Do Such a Bad Job of Depicting Intelligence?

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Over the years I have more than once remarked how badly popular culture depicts intelligence--and had something to say about why it does so....

P.G. Wodehouse and "The Supercilious Stare"

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In P.G. Wodehouse's memorable parody of the invasion story genre, The Swoop! , he writes that the German and Russian invaders and occupi...

The Impressionability of Lucien de Rubempre--and of Artists

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In discussing how artists perceive and cognize the world, and what it means for their art, Upton Sinclair ( among others ) laid great stres...

The Reported Decline of Marriage: A Few Thoughts

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It is a commonplace today that marriage and dating are in decline among the younger adult cohorts (especially the naturally much-watched 18-...

How Little Comfort the Home Circle May Avail

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In the rather romantic view the prevailing bourgeois culture takes of "home" and "family" it is a shelter from the bruta...

Three Books to Read to Understand "The Writing Life"

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I have often criticized the lousy job writers do of portraying what writers do, and what they go through in the course of their careers . Of...

Upton Sinclair on Vegetarianism

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Those familiar with Upton Sinclair as the author of The Jungle will probably not be too surprised to learn of his "experimenting with ...

Frank Capra's Trip to Sicily: A Few Thoughts

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Joseph McBride's biography of film director Frank Capra (1992's Frank Capra: The Catastrophe of Success ) begins with an episode fro...

"You Get What You Pay For": A Few More Thoughts

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"You get what you pay for" is one of those stupid phrases that people speak after someone has suffered a disappointment that offer...

"The Hidden and Awful Wisdom Which Apportions The Destinies of Mankind"

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At one point in recounting the sufferings of Amelia Sedley in Vanity Fair William Makepeace Thackeray writes of "[t]he hidden and awfu...

Of the Word "Badass"

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I have always disliked the term "badass." There seem to me many reasons for this. There is, for instance, the fact that I am jus...