'Tis the time's plague when madmen lead the blind.
Consider these words of
Shakespeare scholar Stephen Greenblatt: “In ordinary
times, when a public figure is caught in a lie or simply reveals blatant
ignorance of the truth, his standing is diminished. But these are not ordinary
times. If a dispassionate bystander were to point out all of Cade’s grotesque
distortions, mistakes, and downright lies, the crowd’s anger would light on the
skeptic and not on Cade.” (Cade is the leader of a rebellion against
Henry VI, a vicious, violent man, a buffoon not unlike Trump.)
― Tyrant: Shakespeare on
Politics
But don’t lose hope. It’s
possible to oust Trump.
Consider further these
words: “Shakespeare believed that . . . tyrants and
their minions would ultimately fail, brought down by their own viciousness and
by a popular spirit of humanity that could be suppressed but never completely
extinguished. The best chance for the recovery of collective decency lay, he
thought, in the political action of ordinary citizens. He never lost sight of .
. . the hungry citizen who demanded economic justice. 'What is the city but the
people?”
― Tyrant: Shakespeare on
Politics
Stay safe, dear friends,
and those of you who can vote in the US – please vote out the madman who
currently occupies the White House.
And now, a promo for
the book Shakespeare calling – the book. Indie authors like
myself need support more than ever when we cannot arrange book signings and
lectures. Therefore, sales are down drastically. I do so hope you will help me
by ordering the book online. Thank you.
The
book is available for those of you in Great Britain and parts of Europe on this
site:
Also
available on http://www.amazon.com/Shakespeare-Calling-book-Ruby-Jand/dp/9163782626/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1436073737&sr=1-1&keywords=Ruby+Jand+shakespeare+calling
Or
in Sweden
http://www.bokus.com/bok/9789163782626/shakespeare-calling-the-book/
or
Adlibris. Or contact the publisher info@vulkan.se
Shakespeare sightings:
- In The Heart’s Invisible Furies by John Boyne young Cyril’s adoptive father becomes so angry about being threatened with imprisonment and bankruptcy that he rages like King Lear in the storm.
- In the wonderful novel Rules for Visiting by Jessica Frances Kane the narrator May reveals on nearly the last page that her mother’s name was Miranda, ‘invented by Shakespeare, derived from the Latin mirandus, meaning “worthy of admiration wonderful”.’
- In the introduction to Aphra Behn’s The Rover her plays are (of course) compared to Shakespeare.
- Get on Up - Octavia Spencer is
in Being John Malkovich which has a Richard III theme.
- Sleuth 1972 Mankiewicz
directed Julius Caesar. Olivier, too many to count. We’ve seen him in King
Lear, Richard III, Hamlet, Henry V, As You Like It.
- Sleuth 2007 - Branagh – director
and/or actor - As You Like It, Love’s Labour’s Lost, Hamlet, In the Bleak
Midwinter, Much Ado About Nothing, Henry V.
- Gosford Park - Maggie Smith plays the mother of Ian McKellen’s Richard III. Michael Gambon is in The Hollow Crown. Kristin Scott Thomas is in IMcKs Richard III. Stephen Fry is in Twelfth Night. Helen Mirren is in The Tempest, The Prince of Jutland, Cymbeline, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Hamlet. Eileen Atkins is in Titus Andronicus. Alan Bates is in Hamlet. Derek Jacobi is in Hamlet, Henry V, Hamlet, Richard II. Richard E Grant is in Twelfth Night, Withnail and I
- Django Unchained – Leonardo Di Caprio is
in Baz Luhrman’s Romeo and Juliet.
- Inglourious Basterds: Michael Fassbender is in Macbeth.
- Fences: Denzel Washington is in Much Ado about Nothing.
Further since last
time:
- Started reading (to myself, alas, Hal is no longer up to listening to Shakespeare): The Merchant of Venice.
- Started watching with Hal: the comedy series Upstart Crow.
- Stopped watching after the first episode: the comedy series Upstart Crow. Just too shallow and inane.
- This report
- https://themerlinchronicles.wordpress.com/ruby-and-shakespeare/shakespeare-calling-the-book/
- https://themerlinchronicles.wordpress.com/ruby-and-shakespeare/spoiler-merlin-and-shakespeare/
