Back to a more frugal Shakespeare Calling week. It seems a shame since I only have two more
Mondays before I have to start working full time again for awhile but that’s
life. My plan is to get a text on Measure for Measure up on the blog
before then. I’m also busy getting texts on the Hamlet spin offs on the movie blog. Not to mention Jasper Fforde and
Thursday Next. So Shakespeare is happening, after all.
From Davis and Frankforter’s The Shakespeare Name Dictionary:
- Barbary is the northern coast of Africa. In Shakespeare’s time the Barbary States were part of the Ottoman Empire. Much of the sugar at the time was produced there. Shakespeare mentions it often in his plays.
- Barnardine is the murderer in Measure for Measure who refuses to be hanged when scheduled because he has a hangover. Hal and I read that scene yesterday.
Shakespeare sightings:
- A notice in Dagens Nyheter a day or so after the death of Margaret Thatcher mentioned that Shakespeare in Love was one of the many good films produced in England after Thatcher had lost power. This in connection with an article about how Thatcherism had put a serious damper on cultural production.
- In Lasse Berg’s book Gryning over Kalahari (Dawn over Kalahari) about the origins of humanity in Africa, he writes about David Lewis-Williams, professor in cognitive archeology, who has made comparisons between Shakespeare’s metaphors and the metaphors of the cave paintings from thousands of years ago found in many place around the world.
Further
this week:
- Continued reading aloud with Hal: Measure for Measure
- Started reading Jasper Fforde’s fourth Thursday Next novel Something Rotten. This event has been promoted from Shakespeare Sightings to a full Shakespeare reading since there is simply so much Shakespeare in these novels. And sure enough, not only is the very title of the book from Shakespeare, but Hamlet himself has moved in with Thursday to try to deal with the shame of having once again lost the Book World’s “Most Troubled Romantic Lead” award to Heathcliff . To avoid detection in the non-fiction world of Swindon he goes under the alias “Cousin Eddie” but so far Thursday has introduced him to her family under his own name.
- Reminder about Blogging Shakespeare: information about an exciting web debate on April 26 about the authorship of Shakespeare http://bloggingshakespeare.com/shakespeare-beyond-doubt
Posted
this week:
- This Monday report
- Reviews on Ruby Jand’s Movie Blog of more Hamlet related movies http://rubyjandsmovieblog.blogspot.se/2013/04/star-trek-vi-undiscovered-country.html
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