Stories (113/0)
The Faces of Taras Bulba
Taras Bulba is a novella by Nikolai Gogol, set among 17th-century Cossacks on the Ukrainian steppes. The title character is an aging Cossack military commander who chafes under the rule of Polish occupation. His two sons return from their education in Kiev, as the Cossacks plot a revolt against the Poles. Like other tales from the romantic era of literature, the plot includes a forbidden love between one of Taras’s sons and the daughter of the local Polish governor. Intrigue and betrayal ensue, impacting the outcome of events, amidst a broader backdrop of military adventure.
By Randy Baker3 months ago in BookClub
Revelatory Realism in Ibsen’s "A Doll's House"
[Author's Note: this article is an analysis of a play by Henrik Ibsen. It can be found here: A Doll's House.] During the mid-19th Century, the literary world was loosening its embrace of Romanticism, with its idealized and emotional view of the world. A new literary movement was afoot in Europe, which came to be known as Realism. Within the field of drama, Realism involved “the direct observation of human behavior…to deal with everyday life and problems as subjects” (Trumbull 2009). Though Realism was birthed in France and later took a strong foothold in Russia, one of the primary innovators of Realism in the theater was a Norwegian playwright, Henrik Ibsen. Having shed the limitations of Romanticism, Henrik Ibsen utilized Realism in his play, A Doll’s House, to lay bare the social mores of his era that dictated the status of women. Written in 1879, A Doll’s House is one of a series of “problem plays”, so named “because of their engagement of social issues such as women’s place in society” (Kennedy and Gioia 2016).
By Randy Baker3 months ago in BookClub
Winner's Circle: Prompted #1
INTRODUCTION The inaugural Randy Baker Writer's Challenge was a bigger success than I had anticipated. The final tally stood at 37 entries! A huge thank you goes out to everyone who took part in the challenge and to those who showed support by spreading the word.
By Randy Baker3 months ago in Writers