“In this pitiable condition I feel that the period will sooner or later arrive when I must abandon life and reason together, in some struggle with the grim phantasm, FEAR” These words spoken by Edgar Allan Poe’s memorable character Roderick Usher in “The Fall of the House of Usher” represent a deep and tragic truth …
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While in my essays I generally engage the subjects of worldview and faith as they relate to literature and writing, I hope that you will indulge with me in a brief consideration of craft, or what I might facetiously call crossing our eyes and dotting our tees. Let us consider Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894), a …
Order from chaos. Sense from obscurity. Hope from suffering. The greatness of the writings of Fyodor Dostoevsky of the 19th century continues to elude those who would otherwise criticize the famed author for possessing a “faulty psychology” and a “diseased mind.”1 Indeed, the core of Dostoevsky’s confidence ran in direct opposition to the thriving popularity …
Read more “Unraveling Dostoevsky: Finding a Common Thread Among the Author’s Life and Writing”