Author: Thomas Fleming

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The Revenger’s Tragedy: Introduction, 1

Revenge or vengeance is a personal act of retribution committed against a person who has wrong the avenger or someone close to him.  Retributive punishment is normally, at least in civilized societies, left up to what the Italian press like to call “the forces of public order,”  but there is no society known to me where revenge, in one form or another, is not sometimes taken by men and women who have been offended.

6

Revenge of the Book Club

Some time ago, I abandoned the regular discussion of  selected books.  The reason should have been obvious.  The cause has disappeared, and we can resume.  Working on the second volume of Properties of Blood, I need to rewrite the chapters on revenge.  This is a good occasion for looking at the classic work of the English stage, The Avenger’s Tragedy….

1

Poem by Thomas Chatterton

Chatterton, a late 18th century poet, is more famous as a legend–the teenage poet who died at 17–than as a writer.  The Romantics, French as well as English, lionized him.  His best known poems are the medievalizing  verses he attributed to a 15th century poet, but his talent for painting satiric portraits is evident in “Apostate Will”–a fine sketch of the clergy on the make,

4

Uncritical Racism and the Queen

Many otherwise good people are upset with the remarks made by a tech school prof who said she hoped Queen Elizabeth died a slow and painful death. Evil, stupid, ignorant are some of the epithets I have heard applied to the prof in question, but would anyone not evil, stupid, and ignorant be interested in teaching uncritical racism, an ideology designed to stir up hatred and violence among all racial groups. And, what kind of a school, once famous for engineering, would inflict such a course on would be engineers and architects? Obviously, not a school anyone in his right...