Category: History

The Weakness of Love in Marie de France’s Deus Amanz

Posted on April 17, 2023February 16, 2026 By Roo

Deus Amanz lives in the same genre as Pyramus and Thisbe, from Ovid’s Metamorphoses, as well as William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. It is also similar to Chevrefoil in the same collection. It is a story of lovers whose parents interfere with their love, and who end up dying together…

Essays

Vikings in Iberia: A Reevaluation

Posted on April 8, 2023February 16, 2026 By Roo

In September of 844, 229 or 230 in the Islamic calendar, the horizon from Lisbon was filled with dark red sails that blackened the horizon, and “filled the hearts of men with fear.” These were the Vikings, who had just made their first major assault on Iberia in Asturias. These…

Lazy Gun: A Science Fiction StoryFebruary 16, 2026
This was a short story and essay reflection that I wrote for a class called Data Narratives. 0 The uncertain darkness of the station was interrupted by advancing headlights. A screech accompanied them, seeming to reverberate from all around as the tram car pulled in. The landing was transformed: what...
The TricycleDecember 17, 2024
Even before he gave me the tricycle, I knew how things were going to go. To Rick, life had always been one big joke. For our first anniversary, he took me to his cabin on a lake several miles north of the city, where kids would bike to and fro...
The Thousand Lives of George ArgyrisApril 26, 2024
It was back in the time before the electric light, when people still walked on air, and the volcanoes spat water instead of fire, and the sparrows pecked at the frozen pigs’ carcasses which lay scattered about outside the entrance to the home of the Professor George Argyris, which stretched,...
A Strange Anointing: Religion in If Beale Street Could TalkMarch 30, 2024
“He kissed my face…he uncovered my breasts and put his teeth and tongue there and his hands were all over my body…he called me by the thunder in my ear. I was in his hands: I was being changed.” –Tish, If Beale Street Could Talk In his 1974 novel, If...
Oyster Island Chapter 1May 1, 2023
As I stepped out of the car I couldn’t hear or see anything in the dark night except the faint rustling of leaves high above and the light of my parents’ house up on the ridge. Behind the house to the west, I knew, was a steep dropoff, ending in...
Celestial Bodies and Plato’s SymposiumApril 24, 2023
“My moon and my sun thou hast quenched for ever.” —James Joyce, Ulysses Jokha Alharthi’s 2010 book, Celestial Bodies, tells the story of three sisters and a host of other characters as they make their way through a cosmic sea of possibility, visualized by the titular “celestial bodies.” The sisters...
The Weakness of Love in Marie de France’s Deus AmanzApril 17, 2023
Deus Amanz lives in the same genre as Pyramus and Thisbe, from Ovid’s Metamorphoses, as well as William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. It is also similar to Chevrefoil in the same collection. It is a story of lovers whose parents interfere with their love, and who end up dying together...
TimeApril 9, 2023
Note: Written for a flash fiction assignment – the maximum word count was 500. In its time, the town of Mudgate, now lost to the ages, squatted unassumingly in a remote section of river-bottom country between two yet unnamed peaks covered with forests and meadows and frequented by butterflies and...
Vikings in Iberia: A ReevaluationApril 8, 2023
In September of 844, 229 or 230 in the Islamic calendar, the horizon from Lisbon was filled with dark red sails that blackened the horizon, and “filled the hearts of men with fear.” These were the Vikings, who had just made their first major assault on Iberia in Asturias. These...
Revenge: Part 3 (Gainesburg, Mercia: Early February, 1014 A.D.)September 7, 2022
The law speaker cleared his throat. “We now convene this Thing-Court to discuss the taxation of the city of Beodricsworth, the resting place of Saint Edmund the Martyr. By the laws of the realm, the kingdom may tax any town it wishes, within reason. We will now hear the grievances...
Revenge: Part 2 (Walingeford, Berkshire: 1013 A.D.)August 30, 2022
By the time the sun rose, Svein Forkbeard, King of Norway and Denmark, soon to be King of England, could see the thatch roofs peeking over the fenced earthworks of Walingeford in the distance. They docked on the shore a mile south of the city and set up camp in...
Revenge: Part 1 (Several miles outside Thetford, East Anglia: 869 A.D.)August 12, 2022
“King Edmund of East Anglia!” Ivar bellowed, his brow creasing in mock consternation. “I am humbled to be in your presence.” As he spoke, a gust of wind tugged at his beard and ruffled the fur of his coat. He placed his foot gently on Edmund’s chest as his contingents...