In the Middle

(1) Arthuriana 16.4 (2006), a special issue on Saracens in Malory, guest edited by Jacqueline de Weever. I especially liked "Saracens ...

This week's Nation includes Stefan Collini's review of John Haffenden's nearly 1500-page two-volume biography of William Empson...

For the many readers -- -- OK, for the ONE reader -- who requested something on Sir Gawain and the Green Knight , I offer the following snip...

Hi, I'm back. I promise more medieval posts this week. Recently, I had a conversation with several academics about this masculine commer...

Though the day passed without fanfare, In the Middle tottered into toddlerhood on January 18. They grow up so quickly, these blogs. Hard to...

Despite the fact that Kid #1 wore his pajamas inside out and flushed ice cubes down the toilet (to make the atmosphere colder), it did not s...

For my seminar on monsters and demons in medieval literature, we turn to Beowulf this week and next [having spent some time already with th...

Teach long enough and it is bound to happen: in the midst of pontificating along in your oh so hip and cutting edge Chaucer class, you reali...

I am just back from the Newberry Library in Chicago, where I was invited to make a presentation on the Old English illustrated Wonders of th...

Because I am so bored and have no work to do ( ), I have been thumbing through two books that have been sitting on my desk since I dusted t...

While driving Kid #1 home from Hebrew school Tuesday night, the following conversation unfolded. I'm trying to get it verbatim but no do...

Check out the Grad School Primer at A cephalous , and be forewarned that its abecedarium of truths does not come to a close when the PhD is...

The New York Times has initiated a new science column called Basics. The first installment is an article by Natalie Angier and may be of int...

Without much premeditation, and without having read anything about the film, and because I received an email on Friday from a friend who urg...

Bright snow has transformed downtown Washington into a shimmering version of its quotidian self. The marble buildings looming behind the cur...