Category Archives: Literary Essays

If you’re interested in literary criticism but don’t like to read, you’re like half the undergraduate students in English literature. Also, you might want to check out these brief essays, which generally don’t achieve much except take up space (like half the undergraduate students in English literature).

The Spice Box of Earth A Kite Is a Metaphor

Taking metaphors to a new level! Dimitri scrutinises every stanza in Leonard Cohen’s poem “A Kite Is a Victim”, originally published in the 1961 collection The Spice-Box of Earth.

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Dancing Girls Courting Disaster

The what, how, and whom of Rape Fantasies! Dimitri discusses Margaret Atwood’s controversial short story, originally published in the 1977 collection Dancing Girls and Other Stories.

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Two Solitudes Defining the Definers

Defining the Canadian identity! Dimitri discusses three literary classics: Margaret Atwood’s Lady oracle, Margaret Laurence’s The Diviners, and Hugh MacLennan’s Two Solitudes.

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The Drawing of the Three: New Introduction Drawn Out: A Look at Time in The Dark Tower II

Prose in temporal flux! Chris discusses how the notion of time inside and outside the narrative influences Stephen King’s The Drawing of the Three.

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Men without Women Environmental Concerns

Literal mountains of metaphors! Dimitri discusses the use of setting in Ernest Hemingway’s short story Hills like White Elephants, originally published in the 1927 collection Men without Women.

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OK Computer Fitter Happier and Ready for the Slaughter

Losing one’s humanity… In song! From a literary perspective, Dimitri discusses “Fitter Happier”, the seventh track on Radiohead’s OK Computer.

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Geography III Life and Other Calamities

In this literary essay, Dimitri discusses Elizabeth Bishop’s poem Crusoe in England, originally published in the 1976 collection Geography III, and briefly compares it to Sylvia Plath’s The Hanging Man.

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As I Lay Dying Mortal Solitudes

Death, loneliness, and the limitations of language! Dimitri discusses the notion of death in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying.

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Plays by August Strindberg Of Strength and Other Weaknesses

It’s X versus Y! To celebrate the man’s birthday, Dimitri analyses the power dynamics in the one-act play The Stronger by renowned Swedish scribe August Strindberg.

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The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born #1 Prelude to The Dark Tower Project

The Dark Tower Project begins! Chris reminisces about the first time he picked up a Stephen King novel and announces his big summer endeavour.

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