April 2012 archive

King John by William Shakespeare

This play is surprisingly good for one of Shakespeare’s lesser known works. It is a story of shifting alliances and treachery in a world that is constantly uncertain. Surprisingly, a character known simply as “the Bastard,” who is surely fictional, is the central and most sympathetic character in the story, proving himself a pole of …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2012/04/19/king-john-by-william-shakespeare/

The Myth of Mental Illness by Thomas Szasz

Dr. Szasz seems to regard mental illness as a moral failure rather than a genuine illness, and he seems to think the mentally ill deserve judgment rather than treatment. Most mentally ill patients, he believes, are merely social misfits and malingerers rather than people suffering from a disease. His arguments are philosophical rather than scientific, …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2012/04/15/the-myth-of-mental-illness-by-thomas-szasz/

Hollywood by Charles Bukowski

Before I discuss the book, a word about Bukowski. Bukowski has a way of making it seem that a life of sin is good for your soul and that people who live virtuous lives are dull people with dead souls. I am rather skeptical of this philosophy, but every time I read about his adventures …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2012/04/06/hollywood-by-charles-bukowski/