[net.books] Shakespeare

firby (04/30/83)

 Are there only 2 people out there who are brave enough to admit to having
experienced Shakespeare?  And with all this posturing about literature going
on here, too!
 I must admit that I love SF in most of its forms, but that doesn't keep
me from enjoying the bard to the fullest.  Or from being appalled at some
of the comments made about the plays.  I want details!!!  Which plots are
"dull"? Which speeches?
 Certainly, the best way to enjoy a play is to see it staged, but there is
just so much in Shakespeare that merely watching isn't enough.  Often he 
must be read to be appreciated fully.  The language is truly beautiful.
 As for my faves, well, Richard the Second has to be the most beautiful and
touching of all the plays, Lear the most tragic, and the Tempest the most
fun.  It is interesting to see Elizabethan philosophy in action in Hamlet,
Caesar, Coriolanus and Macbeth, and to see Shakespeare meet Machiavelli in
Richard the Third.
 However, I suppose that to get the most from Shakespeare one must have
a full appreciation of both Elizabethan England and the English language, 
and that may be expecting too much from Americans.

                         Not afraid to rekindle the fires of 1812
                          (we won that one, you know)
                                          
                                        joanne

jlg (05/09/83)

I really enjoy Shakespeare.  But I can't agree that the best way
to enjoy it is in a theatre.  The local productions that show up
here are pretty badly done.  This may not be the case everywhere
but it is here.  Also, the recent PBS versions are a mixed bag.
Some of them are VERY well done and some are just average.  For 
my money, I'll take the printed versions anytime.

                     J.L. Giles
                    (...utah-cs!lanl-a!jlg)

P.S.  What time of year is it when "Now is the winter of our
discontent..."?   Why it's summer of course!  The whole line
reads "Now is the winter of our discontent made glorious summer
by this sun of York."  Why is it that people are only familiar
with the first half of that line?

conrad (05/10/83)

           "Now is the winter of our discontent made glorious
            summer by this sun (son) of York. "

              " Why is it that people are only familiar with
                the first half of that line?"
  
       You can probably attribute that to John Steinbeck.