Laura is a full-time online instructor at the University of Oklahoma, teaching courses in Folklore & Mythology, World Literature, and the Epics of Ancient India. She has published books on Aesop's fables, Latin proverbs, and the Vulgate Bible. Find out more about Laura by visiting her Bestiaria Latina Blog.
Laura looks at the 2007 film Katyń, exploring how director Andrzej Wajda wove Greek myth and his own biography into the fictional character of Agnieszka to give a true account of the tragic 1940 massacre in Poland. Article »
Laura concludes her series on Aesopic fables reflecting the well-known phrase the "lion's share" by looking at two versions of the fable by Roger L'Estrange with two different morals. Article »
Laura begins her series looking at the land of the dead in works of modern fantasy, exploring its geography, its connection to the land of the living, and its significance in Earthsea. Article »
The story of Jesus traveling to the underworld is one of many stories better known through its visual representations throughout the churches in Europe than in any written narrative form. Article »
Laura discusses the ways medieval scholars incorporated Aesopic fables into a Christian framework, looking specifically at the thirteenth-century Latin fables of Odo of Cheriton. Article »
Laura looks at Many Waters to explore Madeleine L'Engle's use of material from the Bible, Jewish and Christian apocrypha, theoretical physics, and more to tell a moving story of love, devotion and sacrifice. Article »
Laura explores three anecdotes from the legendary Life of Aesop, showing Aesop outwitting his rivals. Aesop used logical thinking and mythical thinking to provide comic relief and surprising insight into the nature of the world. Article »
Statues depicting Shiva as Nataraja, "Lord of the Dance," portray a sense of balance, motion, and sheer beauty to all who view them. Laura explores the ways they express narratives to those who can read the symbols and allusions. Article »
Laura looks at a selection of sixteenth-century emblems that depict the suffering of Prometheus to explore the ways this mythological narrative is represented in visual symbols and verse. Article »
Laura explores a fourteenth-century fresco from the Basilica of Santa Croce in Florence, depicting the legendary story of Saint Sylvester taming the dragon. Article »