Note that all 7 essays on this page, as well as 8 of those that appear
on the page “More on Shakespeare et al.”
have now been collected in
TRAGICAL HISTORICAL
Late Essays in Western Cultural History
from Boethius to Beckett
Downloadable at
also, at
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FROM THE UNDERGROUND
“ ‘Our discussion is serious; if you do not deign to give me your attention, I am not going to bow and scrape before you. I have the underground…’ ”
from Notes from Underground —Dostoevski
I
Montaigne, Orthodoxy, and Mania
II
“The Book of the Courtier”
(and Hamlet)
III
The Unaddressed Complaint
in “The Consolation of Philosophy”
IV
Jean de Meun and
the Anti-Romance of the Rose
V
Rousseau and the Legacy of Passion-Love:
Old and New Heloise
VI
Matthew Arnold’s Late, Quixotic Crusade
VII
Samuel Beckett’s Last Stand:
from Godot to Endgame