Kill All the Lawyers?: Shakespeare's Legal Appeal
Narrow interest matter, but well written and some interesting sectionsShakespeare: The Invention of the Human
Full of opinions, some of them insightful, some of them outrageously unfounded. The book never actually explains what the "invention of the human" is, or how it happened.Shakespeare in Kabul
A very good book about a story in Afghanistan that isn't about terror or war. Lots of good details about what went into this very unusual production of Love's Labours Lost.How Shakespeare Changed Everything
Mostly wrong, occasionally interesting. Should have been titled What's the Minimum Word Count for a Book? or All this Shakespeare Research Must Be Worth Something!Our next scheduled episode will be about Hamlet, but we may have a surprise episode before then!
Yippee! Another Bardcast! And terrific as always! I'd be interested in how you chose these ones, as there are so many. A nice cross-section, though.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to the Hamlet series!
Yay - always looking forward to your Bardcasts! So happy to find the new one today, and on such a neglected side of modern Shakespeare: the plethora of books which are published about him EVERY YEAR. The ones you've chosen are an interesting mix of topics and authors, and yes - how DID you choose these particular topics? In particular, "Shakespeare In Kabul" is off the beaten track.
ReplyDeleteI've got several books on Shakespeare in my personal library, but the only match I have in the ones you mentioned is Harold Bloom's, which is difficult to wade through (kudos for you for getting through the whole thing!) If I were to hazard a guess as to what Bloom was getting at, I would think he means that Shakespeare was the first playwright to create a multi-dimensional, conflicted "character" for the stage, and not some 'world-changing' influence on human nature, but with Bloom, who can tell?
Some suggestions for future reading, if you can track them down (none of them as heavy as Bloom):
"Shakespeare: The World As Stage" by Bill Bryson
"This Wooden 'O': Shakespeare's Globe Reborn" by Barry Day
"Shakespeare & Co." by Stanley Wells
"Shakespeare the Player: A Life in the Theatre" by John Southworth
"The Boy Who Would Be Shakespeare: A Tale of Forgery and Folly" by Doug Stewart
I found Kill All the Lawyers in the law library I just started working at, along with about 20 other Shakespeare and law books ranging back to the 1890s. This one was recent and had a good summary, and wasn't too long, so that's how I chose it.
DeleteI've actually read the Bryson book, I think it's definitely my favorite book about Shakespeare, but we wanted to read books that were new to us for the book club.
Also, do you have a production of Hamlet coming up that you will be able to attend, or will you rely of some video production for your commentary? (I've always felt Shakespeare is best watched as a play, rather than read as *literature*). I've got at least NINE films of Hamlet, and I'd be hard-pressed to choose one as the definitive version. If you want completeness, there's the BBC version with Derek Jacobi (a STRATFORDIAN heretic), or the Kenneth Branaugh (which I really don't like very well). Personally, my all-time favorite Hamlet DVD is the 1964 Russian edition with Kozintsev Grigory; great music (by Shostakovich) great Ghost, great "noir" atmosphere, and great location, if you can track it down.
ReplyDeleteI've seen the Russian version of Hamlet and I must say it is not bad BUT it is too Russian. The strange thing is that Hamlet is so quiet. Moreover, Ophelia is more like Tolstoi's Natasha Rostova, which is not all that far off the mark, but still...
DeleteAnyway, of all the Hamlet's I've seen (5), I liked the BBC version best. I think this was the first time that I understood anything of the grad design. And the analysis, and the verification, and the check, and the horror, and the glory of nothingness.
I don't know what you mean by "too Russian"... it strikes me as being "German Expressionist" in its style - which I love - the starkness of it; it's why I also tend to prefer the Orson Welles' "Macbeth" and "Othello" and the Peter Nichols "King Lear" over other accounts. Plus, the BBC edition is so visually dull and flat, typical of all their Shakespeare productions. The acting, however, is very good, and you can feel that everything is being examined, and explained to the viewers, but it's still a long haul, and I simply can't warm up to Jacobi's Hamlet, who feels too 'feminine' in the role.
DeleteWhere's the expressionism part in the Russian Hamlet? My "native" cultures are German and Russian and I know the German expressionists quite well (at least the poetry), so I'm puzzled.
DeleteI have to start my Shakespeare again, something is missing without hime;-)
Which of the newer Hamlets and Lears would you recommand?
Have an audition in a few days for Midsummer, and I haven't seen or read it in years, so I went looking for a podcast to brush up and found you guys. Haven't covered the play I wanted to hear about, but I've loved the first couple episodes I have heard, and just wanted to say, keep it up! Can't wait to hear the other 20 or so I have stacked up.
ReplyDeleteMidsummer Night's Dream was actually our third podcast, and the first play we covered. You can listen to it in our Archive here: http://bardcast.blogspot.com/p/archive.html or there's a link at the top of the page.
DeleteI had high hopes for Midsummer Night's Dream because everybody said that it was so great. I still don't get it why it's better than 12th Night. But then, what makes 12th Night so great? I just now that I've been in an extremely good mood after seeing it...
DeleteLove your podcasts! Thank you for making these plays more accessible. I'm taking a very lonely online Shakespeare course, and I can tell I'm probably in your age range. I don't have friends I can casually chat with about these plays, and your fun commentary on them is uplifting when I don't know how to go on. I don't want to hate Shakespeare...I LOVE stories, and you're making his seem more appealing. So, thank you. Cheers! - Zora in Texas
ReplyDeleteLove it! Thank you for making these plays more accessible. I'm taking a very lonely online Shakespeare course, and I can tell I'm in your age range. I don't have friends I can casually chat with about these plays, and your fun commentary on them is uplifting when I don't know how to go on. I don't hate Shakespeare...I love stories, and often he's difficult to understand. Thanks for creating this. Cheers! :D - Zora in Texas
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