Monthly Archives: March 2019
Ralph Ellison’s “Battle Royal,” an excerpt from The Invisible Man
William Edward Bughardt (W.E.B.) Du Bois was the first black person to earn a doctorate in America and would go on to be a professor of sociology at Atlanta University. In 1909 he founded the National Association for the Advancement … Continue reading
Zora Neale Hurston’s “The Gilded Six Bits”
On the surface, Hurston’s “The Gilded Six-Bits” seems a rather simple melodrama. The story opens with Misse May Banks bathing, waiting for her husband, Joe, to come home. He enters with his weekly ritual of throwing nine silver dollars into … Continue reading
Tim O’Brien’s “The Things They Carry”
Tim O’Brien’s “The Things They Carried,” published in 1986, would become the opening story to his acclaimed collection (1990) titled the same. O’Brien is widely considered the author that has shaped U.S. understanding of the experience of soldiers during the … Continue reading
Ray Bradbury’s “August 2026: There Will Come Soft Rains”
I have to confess, the most luxurious, decadent purchase I have made in the past 3 years has been an automatic grind-and-brew coffee maker! Being able to walk downstairs smelling the freshly brewed coffee and having my cup ready has … Continue reading
The Mad Literature Professor 