Monday, November 28 2011

Having finished reading Romeo and Juliet but not having seen all the movies or read all of the analyses, this is kind of a limbo week. The thought of writing about the most famous love story in western literature is somewhat daunting. Added to that is the realization that I don't...dare I say it...??? don't really like this play so much and so far neither Greenblatt's introduction nor Bloom's analysis has made me change my mind. Luhrman's movie version, watched yesterday evening, almost did (as always) but still, it's going to be tricky to write about it. Nevertheless I've decided the subject though I haven't started writing. We've read the two above-mentioned analyses but have a whole pile of books left to look through. We've watched three of the eight film versions, so more than half left. All in all it will be awhile before we go on to the next play. Ah well, no rush, right?

• This week's Shakespeare sightings –
  • In the rest of Jasper Fforde's novel The Eyre Affair there weren't so many Shakespeare sightings but towards the end we find the real truth about the authorship of the plays. Whew! What a relief!
  • In DN I see that choreographer Mats Ek is going to do a new “Romeo and Juliet” in the next season, to Prokofiev. Hope to see that one.
  • Still listening to Springsteen: in “Fire” Romeo and Juliet are listed among famous love pairs.
  • In Harry Potter 5 – The Order of the Phoenix we are told that one of the members of the rock band, the Weird Sisters, is getting married.

Further, this week:

• Finished reading aloud with Hal: Romeo and Juliet
• Book ordered but not yet received: Jean E. Howard's Companion to the Tragedies.
• Posted on my Facebook: a couple of books and movies. As always, technical glitches make it a picky job.
• Movies watched: “West Side Story”, “Romeo and Juliet” (BBC version), “William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet” (Baz Luhrman version).
• Text posted on blog: the next Book of Interest – Dominic Dromgoole's Will & Me.