http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/authors/109/brian-richards Inquiries Journal provides undergraduate and graduate students around the world a platform for the wide dissemination of academic work over a range of core disciplines. en-us Thu, 21 May 2026 18:05:53 -0400 Thu, 21 May 2026 18:05:53 -0400 http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/670/lessons-of-darkness-in-the-context-of-carrolls-erotetic-narrative By Brian Richards - In his essay, “An Aesthetic Reality,” Andre Bazin writes, “Let us agree, by and large, that film sought to give the spectator as perfect an illusion of reality as possible within the limits of logical demands of cinematographic narrative” (Bazin, 26). Noel Carroll does not “agree, by and large” with Bazin’s realism-based (or medium essential) proposal, nor is he satisfied with ascribing the power of film to Wilson’s semiotics or Langer’s dream-medium theories. Instead, Carroll attributes the central source of cinematic power to its use of an... Mon, 30 Jul 2012 09:05 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/670/lessons-of-darkness-in-the-context-of-carrolls-erotetic-narrative http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/316/analysis-of-john-keatss-when-i-have-fears-death-and-the-freedom-of-limitations By Brian Richards - In the opening lines, the speaker has clearly identified one of his fears for the reader. It is not merely the cliché death that worries the poet, but the very specific and mildly unique fear that he may not achieve his full creative potential (“full ripened grain”) by the time death arrives (in the form of “high-piled books” he has written). Such anxiety is relatable to any artist and any human being who is dissatisfied with his or her current state, or those who fear the limitations of life despite the unlimited nature of their ideas (before his pen has even &ldquo... Thu, 04 Nov 2010 10:53 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/316/analysis-of-john-keatss-when-i-have-fears-death-and-the-freedom-of-limitations http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/239/immortality-and-the-poem-comparing-and-contrasting-marvell-and-shakespeare By Brian Richards - The meaning behind both Andrew Marvell’s “To His Coy Mistress” and Shakespeare’s sonnets has been debated since their respective publications. Marvell’s poem and specifically Shakespeare’s sonnets 55 and 60 have undeniably divergent content but nevertheless convey themes relating to life, death, and love. The ideas illustrated through the lines reveal somewhat of a mutual disdain for death, as well as a passion to live and love. The poems emphasize mortality—the approaching doom and death—in a similar way that presents time as a personified villain... Thu, 29 Apr 2010 08:05 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/239/immortality-and-the-poem-comparing-and-contrasting-marvell-and-shakespeare http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/179/exploring-the-american-immigrant-experience-through-literature By Brian Richards - In “Amor de lejos: Latino (Im)migration Literatures,” B.V. Olguin writes, “Latino/a (im)migration narratives…often illustrate the traumatic aspects of displacement by focusing in part on how immigration, migration, exile, and colonization place people in a state of national limbo” (333). Similarly, in “The New Immigration and the Literature of Asian America,” Hye Suh and Robert Ji-Song Ku write, “Asian American literature bears the traces of global capitalism, technology, migration from south to north, new possibilities for national identity in... Tue, 23 Feb 2010 08:48 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/179/exploring-the-american-immigrant-experience-through-literature http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/176/immigration-and-what-it-means-to-be-an-american By Brian Richards - On the eve of the 19th century, in 1781, French-American immigrant Hector St. Jean de Crevecoeur wrote a letter, the third in his famed Letters from an American Farmer, entitled “What Is An American?” His answer, as open for interpretation as it might be, was best been articulated in his fourth paragraph: “The American,” he writes, “is a new man, who acts upon new principles; he must therefore entertain new ideas, and form new opinions” (2). Two centuries later, however, American journalist James Fallows wrote an article entitled “Immigration: How It&rsquo... Mon, 22 Feb 2010 08:54 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/176/immigration-and-what-it-means-to-be-an-american http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/174/in-defense-of-the-spirit-of-an-author-on-anne-fadimans-the-spirit-catches-you-and-you-fall-down By Brian Richards - Anne Fadiman’s The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures is a non-fiction exploration of culture and medicine that tells the tragic story of the Lee family and their daughter Lia, an epileptic Hmong girl. The book has been heavily criticized for various biases, sympathies, and idealization. Overlooking these criticisms blindly believes one author’s words, but accepting them fully misinterprets the entire text. The most beneficial reading of Fadiman’s The Spirit requires seeing the work as a writer’s... Fri, 19 Feb 2010 09:02 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/174/in-defense-of-the-spirit-of-an-author-on-anne-fadimans-the-spirit-catches-you-and-you-fall-down http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/172/the-significance-of-the-screenplay By Brian Richards - Film is a highly collaborative medium. Most movie viewers probably do not think of the collaboration process each time they sit at the theater, or at their computer, but the required teamwork is significant, as any moviegoer who has actually sits through the end credits can attest. In this multi-faceted form of communication, it is hard to indentify precisely what the most important component, or who the most important team member, is. However, there is a strong case to support the notion that the most vital piece of a film is the screenplay, making the screenwriter a film’s most valuable... Wed, 17 Feb 2010 09:00 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/172/the-significance-of-the-screenplay http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/166/the-american-immigrant-a-roach-in-the-glue--examining-the-work-of-hemon-and-kambanda By Brian Richards - At the conclusion of her essay, “My New World Journey,” Nola Kambanda writes that “Sometimes I am not sure whether home is behind me or in front of me…I might just be attaching [this longing] to those things that are familiar to me…it might not be a place at all…home might be family…It might be the people who make me feel” (155). However, at the conclusion of his short story, “Blind Jozef Pronek,” Aleksandar Hemon writes of his protagonist’s perception of home, and hardly any of his description fits finely into Kambanda&rsquo... Thu, 11 Feb 2010 12:07 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/166/the-american-immigrant-a-roach-in-the-glue--examining-the-work-of-hemon-and-kambanda http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/145/the-ugly-truth-an-exploration-of-postwar-representations-of-the-holocaust-through-the-obscene By Brian Richards - It is safe to presume Bartov’s segment title is a clever throwback to Sigmund Freud’s famous work Civilization and Its Discontents, but it nonetheless serves as a fitting introduction to his subsequent analysis. Bartov writes of the intellectual post-war struggle to see whether or not one can even represent the Holocaust. It is undoubtedly a huge challenge for a variety of reasons Bartov explores throughout his entire essay, and this challenge therefore inspires a great deal of discontent from intellectuals and survivors alike (though no one should realistically equate their perspectives... Thu, 28 Jan 2010 09:14 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/145/the-ugly-truth-an-exploration-of-postwar-representations-of-the-holocaust-through-the-obscene http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/141/the-vast-wasteland-gets-vaster-the-future-of-television-in-the-online-revolution By Brian Richards - Though Minow would probably maintain his statement in light of the Nielsen ratings for “Dancing With the Stars” or “American Idol,” his moral accusations appear disregarded by his own constituency. Not only did this “wasteland” continue to prosper in bars and living rooms, but it expanded into ever greater frontiers with the development of new technology. Current reports already reveal that the future of TV will not always appear, at least exclusively, on TV. In an already interwoven and interconnected field, television is becoming even more integrated with... Tue, 26 Jan 2010 10:32 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/141/the-vast-wasteland-gets-vaster-the-future-of-television-in-the-online-revolution