An honest sense of one’s own failings and shortcomings is part of what makes levity possible. One of the best books I know for inculcating humility through humor is Jerome K. Jerome’s novel, Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog).
The Spear serves as a lectio divina of sorts, that is, as an opportunity to imagine oneself in the action of the Holy Scriptures.
Pogo’s use of politics complements the other layers of art and satire perfectly. In a world where we are surrounded by bad art made for purely political purposes, Walt Kelly’s work is a breath of fresh air.
To read Franquin’s Spirou and Fantasio comics is to blur the line between child and adult and to enter a world of wonder of which we could all use a taste.
Tolkien’s most intimidating book may be his richest.
The one leading the Church is Pope Francis. We should pray for him, not deny his authority.
Penguin’s choice to publish Marvel comics under their “Classics” label is provocative, but is it justified? This month’s comics column considers this question while reviewing the new Penguin volumes.
Sin is a perennial reality that we cannot eradicate through political will. Instead, we are called to heal the world. One of the best dramatic considerations of this is Shakespeare’s hilarious, beautiful, and criminally overlooked play, Measure for Measure.
It is sad that we as a culture have become so desensitized that we do not even blink an eye at the relatively ‘tame’ nudity of Zeffirelli’s Romeo and Juliet.
Are comics, as some Francophones argue, a distinct ‘9th art’? In the first of a monthly series, Felix James Miller argues they are and introduces readers to some of the delights of the art form.
Dante’s La Vita Nuova is indisputably the work of a young man, a man whose passions (and poetic compositions) are still discovering the place they ought to have in the world. Thankfully, though, Dante’s ‘immature’ juvenilia is far greater and more penetrating a work than most poets can ever compose in the entire course of their lives.
Alain de Botton’s book tells us that we can and should regain hope about the future of our homes and cities. Architecture has been in a sad state in the West for many decades, but there are also glimmers of promise.
