tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post3119141255295336769..comments2024-03-28T13:17:20.734-04:00Comments on SleuthSayers: You Said What About the Bard?Leigh Lundinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07921276795499571578noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post-20166769116039033662022-05-13T23:15:36.619-04:002022-05-13T23:15:36.619-04:00Shrew raunchy? Awww. Naughty, I'd buy.
You&#...<i>Shrew</i> raunchy? Awww. Naughty, I'd buy.<br /> <br />You're right. We tend to judge each King novel by the same yardstick, but that's not fair. He's probably glad he didn’t publish <i>Thinner</i> under his own name.<br /> <br />Footnote: I sometimes tend to lose track matching historical events in their contexts and we Americans may not realize Shakespeare was undoubtedly aware of events an ocean away in North America. Shakespeare probably based <i>The Tempest</i> on a current event of the time. It’s thought he based Stephano on <a href="https://www.sleuthsayers.org/search/label/Mayflower" title="https://www.sleuthsayers.org/search/label/Mayflower" rel="nofollow">Stephen Hopkins</a>, the only person to appear in both Jamestown and Plymouth. (A contentious hard-head with authority issues, Hopkins damned near got himself hanged for mutiny in Bermuda.) The timeline is something like this:<br /> • 1607 Jamestown Colony founded<br /> • 1608 Shipwreck in Bermuda<br /> • 1610 Shakespear wrote The Tempest<br /> • 1620 Plymouth Colony foundedLeigh Lundinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07921276795499571578noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post-15299712279860330052022-05-13T12:12:10.594-04:002022-05-13T12:12:10.594-04:00But there's a whole industry of criticism, bot...But there's a whole industry of criticism, both amateur & professional, of novels, plays, short stories, music, art, movies ... why should anything or anyone be immune to it?Elizabeth Dearbornhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14714209544959819305noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post-85502852616856620412022-05-13T10:25:03.379-04:002022-05-13T10:25:03.379-04:00Oh, I totally agree - Titus Andronicus sucks swamp...Oh, I totally agree - Titus Andronicus sucks swamp water, and if you can make sense of Cymbeline's plot, well, you're on drugs. And I don't know anyone who enjoys the three caskets/courtiers scene in Merchant of Venice. Shakespeare can be criticized like anyone else. Because when he was good, he really was the best.Eve Fisherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03015761600962360110noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post-27971716822591643032022-05-13T09:14:29.620-04:002022-05-13T09:14:29.620-04:00I assigned about a dozen of Shakespeare's play...I assigned about a dozen of Shakespeare's plays when I taught, and I either acted in or directed a dozen (many of the same ones) during my "career" in theater. Certain plays don't get performed much, and the main reason is that they aren't very good. A theater where I used to do a lot of work is staging Love's Labour's Lost this fall, and I'm already having nightmares at the idea. <br /><br />I agree about King John and Titus Andronicus (Will's most frequently performed play during his lifetime. I call it "the Texas Chainsaw Massacre in blank verse). The Tempest and As You Like It are practically the same play, and the poetry interferes with the story in both of them. Two Gentlemen of Verona is tedious and has a ridiculous ending.<br /><br />On the other hand, Macbeth is the archetypal noir story, Hamlet is a great psychological thriller, Othello and The Merchant of Venice confront bigotry head-on, and Twelfth Night is a great gender-bending comedy loaded with rich character roles. And King Lear...!<br /><br />Critics credit Shakespeare with having a hand in between 40 and 50 plays. If you take his best five or six, he's better than anybody. If you take his worst five or six, he's a hack. You can say the same about Faulkner, Hemingway, Updike, or just about any other writer. And neither Tennessee Williams nor Arthur Miller has six good plays to put on the board. <br /><br />It's easy to take potshots at King or anyone else, especially when you're nobody. While King may be uneven, we can all learn lessons about creating rich and complex characters from him.Steve Liskowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07107703903536520140noreply@blogger.com