Author: Rufus F.

How should we read Zola today? Reading his Nana, I was struck by a scene in which the corrupt journalist Fauchery writes an article attacking the well-connected courtesan at the center of the novel, and...

In his voyage account from the 13th century, Marco Polo tells of “the old man of the mountain” (Book I: Ch. 21), or Ala’u-‘d-Din Muhammad, one of the last rulers of the Nizari Ismailis, a...

In November, 1983, the ABC network aired the television movie The Day After, depicting the effects of a nuclear war on the Midwestern United States. Viewed by an estimated 100 million people, the film...

Surge was a citrus-flavored soda pop launched in the US by the Coca Cola Company in 1996 as an American variant of the Norwegian Urge. It had an advantage over 7-Up and Mountain Dew...

In his 1877 preface to, and defence of, his novel L’Assommoir, Émile Zola writes: “I wanted to depict the inexorable downfall of a working class family in the poisonous atmosphere of our industrial suburbs. Intoxication...

Over at the League sub-blog “Forbes”, E.D. shares Roger Ebert’s suggestions as to why movie theatregoing is declining. As avid cinephiles, one might expect me and the missus to go to the movies more...

After the first batch of 2010 league posts was whittled down, there are 40 posts left. Any suggestions?

There is a superb scene in the third chapter of Alexander Pushkin’s novel-in-verse Eugene Onegin in which Tatiana, the landowner’s daughter character that Dostoevsky deemed a model of Russian womanhood, is sitting up all...

If we’re going to pick our favorite posts from the last three years for this League Journal, we’re going to have to remember what was posted in that time. I’ve been making my way...

Currently, the Soul Pepper Theatre in Toronto’s distillery district is staging Ibsen’s Ghosts; thus one can safely dissect the hypocrisies of the 19th century Norwegian bourgeoisie in the happy company of the 21st century...

[bumped to the top and the front page for more visibility – Erik] Two recent stories got me thinking about a pet project/experiment that’s been percolating in my brain for a bit now: this...

For some reason, the following exchange of viewpoints, across a span of about a century, came to mind when reading the threads on the Wall Street protests. Arnold was writing about the protests in...

Robinson Crusoe was an immediate success when first published in April, 1719. By the end of the year, it had been put through four editions in English, appeared in Dutch, French and German, was...

With the annual onset of seasonal depression my curmudgeon persona returns and promptly begins griping about every stupid fishing thing around me. Some of you might wonder how much that persona, who we can...

How does evil get into the world? Where does it come from? Why is it here? For religions that attribute a fallen nature to man, this isn’t such a problem; after all, it was...

Okay I did one a few weeks ago. If nobody objects though here’s a really cool blues song. The original, by Geeshie Wiley is one of the most haunting songs you’ll ever hear. Those...

As someone who spends, and has always spent, a great deal of time in record stores, I have not been able to avoid hearing about the fast approaching “death of the record store” after...

Wow! The scuttlebutt has it that the West Memphis Three are about to be released from prison via a (somewhat bizarre) plea deal. No word yet as to what Eddie Vedder will due with...