Happy Birthday, Mary Wollstonecraft!

“It is time to effect a revolution in female manners…and make them, as a part of the human species…For man and woman, truth, if I understand the meaning of the word, must be the same… Women, I allow, may have different duties to fulfil; but they are human duties, and the principles that should regulate the discharge of them, I sturdily maintain, must be the same.”
(Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication on the Rights of Women, Chapter III)

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Today we celebrate one of the first feminists in modern Western history, a woman whose remarkable life and impressive intellect were forgotten for nearly a century, and woman whose work is still surprisingly relevant to this day–Mary Wollstonecraft, who was born this day in 1759.

In her most famous work, A Vindication on the Rights of WomenWollstonecraft essentially argued that men and women were born and meant to be equals, but that society, and its refusal to train women’s brains and bodies properly, were forcing women into a subservient role, and ensuring that they would never be anything more than a pretty face.  It wasn’t appreciated until much later how much of her writings were inspired by her own life, and her incredibly difficult childhood.

images (3)Wollstonecraft was the the second of the seven children of Edward John Wollstonecraft and Elizabeth Dixon.  Though the family was initially financially comfortable, her father squandered most of the money on speculative investments and, later, alcohol, including inheritance money that should have gone to Mary.  He was abusive, as well, and Mary as a teenager often lay on the floor outside her mother’s bedroom at night to ensure that her father couldn’t get inside.  Things changed for the better when Mary was introduced to Frances (Fanny) Blood, who encouraged her to improve her life through education, and gave her all the personal and intellectual support she could not get at home.

Mary determined to become self-supportive around the age of nineteen, and, after working as a ladies maid for several years, opened a school with Fanny Blood in Newington Green in London (that’s right…Mary Wollstonecraft and I were neighbors!).  The school was a rousing success, but Fanny and her husband soon moved to Portugal in the hopes of improving Fanny’s health, and Mary abandoned the school to help care for her until her death in 1787.

Mary Wollstonecraft's green circle on the site of her school, Newington Green, London
Mary Wollstonecraft’s green circle on the site of her school, Newington Green, London

Though a gifted educator, Mary decided that she was done scrabbling for money and being at the mercy of other people to provide her with a living.  Taking an enormous financial and social risk, she decided to become an author, a career that very few women chose at that time.  She moved to London, and became a trusted and valued member of a number of intellectual circles, making friends with Samuel Johnson and Thomas Paine, among others.  Following the end of an affair with the (married) artist Henry Fuseli, Mary moved to France, eager to be a part of the intellectual, as well as the political revolution that was fomenting there (she had proposed to share Henry, but apparently Mrs. Fuseli was not agreeable to such a proposal.).

It was around this time that Mary penned A Vindication on the Rights of Women, published in 1792, which was a follow-up to her 1790 pamphlet A Vindication on the Rights of Man, in which she argued against class divisions and the aristocracy and championed the Republican sentiments that were spreading across the newly-founded United States and France.

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It was her passionate argument for women, however, that made Mary famous.  In A Vindication on the Rights of Women, she rejected outright the notion that women’s minds were incapable of rational thought or unfit to be educated, and that their bodies were too weak to allow them to work, or be independent from men.  As she describes, “Fragile in every sense of the word, [women] are obliged to look up to man for every comfort… I am fully persuaded that we should hear of none of these infantile airs, if girls were allowed to take sufficient exercise, and not confined in close rooms till their muscles are relaxed, and their powers of digestion destroyed.”

She argued that “females…are made women of when they are mere children”, meaning that girls were taught from a very young age that their only worth lay in physically attracting a man.  The result was that women were forced to remain like children for the rest of their lives.  It was not their natural inclination to be so, but the way in which they were brought up:

False notions of beauty and delicacy stop the growth of their limbs and produce a sickly soreness…and thus weakened …how can they attain the vigour necessary to enable them to throw off their factitious character?—where find strength to recur to reason and rise superiour to a system of oppression, that blasts the fair promises of spring? This cruel association of ideas, which every thing conspires to twist into all their habits of thinking, or, to speak with more precision, of feeling, receives new force when they begin to act a little for themselves; for they then perceive that it is only through their address to excite emotions in men, that pleasure and power are to be obtained. Besides, the books professedly written for their instruction, which make the first impression on their minds, all inculcate the same opinions. Educated then in worse than Egyptian bondage, it is unreasonable, as well as cruel, to upbraid them with faults that can scarcely be avoided…when nothing could be more natural, considering the education they receive, and that their ‘highest praise is to obey, unargued’—the will of man.

This is not to say that Wollstonecraft’s work was and remains utterly unassailable–A Vindication on the Rights of Women is full of class and gender assumptions, many the result of religion, that date the work considerably.  But her argument for the absolute equality of human beings remains a remarkable and moving statement that, largely, is still relevant today.

godwinMary had her first daughter, Fanny, with an American named Gilbert Imlay, whom she met in France.  They were never married (though they claimed to be so that Mary could escape the Revolutionary government in France), and Imlay soon dropped out of Mary’s life, leading to a very serious battle with depression.  Several years later, in 1797, she married the writer and philosopher William Godwin (pictured at left), and the two moved into adjoining houses so that they could maintain their complete independence, and frequently corresponded by letter.  Their marriage, by all accounts, was a happy one, but it was also brief.  Mary died of septicemia following the birth of her second daughter, Mary (who would become the author of Frankenstein).  

Following her death, Godwin published Mary’s unfinished memoirs, titled Memoirs of the Author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman.  Though Godwin honestly believed that Mary’s shockingly honest memoirs were the best way to memorialize her, the book was considered so scandalous (talking, as it did about her love affairs, single motherhood, depression, and suicide attempts, in very frank and thoughtful terms), that her reputation was demolished.  It would be nearly a century before anyone seriously studied Mary’s works.  However, in 1892, Millicent Garrett Fawcett, a prominent suffragette, wrote in an introduction to A Vindication on the Rights of Women, calling Mary the founder of the women’s movement.   But don’t take her–or my–word for it.  In honor of her birthday, have a look through Mary Wollstonecraft’s surprising and insightful work today (you can find the full transcription of the work here) and see for yourself!

Single Serving Readings, Both Near and Far

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When it comes to books, size does matter….

281For those of you out there who love big, meaty books, with immersive details, deep, complex characters, and long journeys that allow those characters to develop within that scenic world…I have some good news.  A recent study (by a group called Vervesearch on behalf of an interactive publisher called Flipsnack) analyzed the page counts of recent best-sellers and discovered that print books are getting bigger.  In a fairly significant way, at that, with the average best-seller growing from 320 pages in 1999 to 400 in 2014.  This implications of this are not clear at all; few studies of the present are.  But, as we approach the “beach reading” season, those of you who want a good, sturdy book to take with you, I celebrate this news on your behalf.

There are those of us (and I definitely count myself in this group more often than not) who can’t always handle the commitment of a big book.  As a self-professed adulterous reader, I often have three or four books going at once…for a number of reasons, which we can discuss later….but anyway, the point is that sometimes, for some of us, big books can be a real turn-off.

But there is good news!  E-books have forced the publishing market to diversify their products in ways that haven’t been seen since the evolution of the paperback in  1935.  And that means that new genres, new characters, and new types of books continue to emerge with startling speed.  Just one of these options is the novella.

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Novellas, by definition, are works of fiction that are longer than a short story, but shorter than a novel.  The word itself derives from the Italian work “novella”, which means “new”.  In reality, novellas are delightful, delicious, single-serving works of fiction that can be read in a single sitting…a train ride…a workout….whatever time or space you have to unwind for a bit is the perfect place for a novella.  And, thanks to the revolution  within the publishing market, novellas are becoming increasingly diverse, wider in scope, and increasingly more refined as an art form in and of themselves.   Even better, they are becoming increasingly easier to find in print form, as well as electronic form.

And, to heap goodness on top of all this goodness, any resident of Massachusetts has access to the Boston Public Library databases….and the Boston Public Library has a phenomenal and growing collection of novellas (as well as a completely insane collection of other works and resources).   Patrons can get a BPL library card online as well to have instant access to databases (including Overdrive!).  To find these great resources, head to the “e-Library” option on our home page:

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Then, click on “Articles/Databases”.  It’s the sixth option on the list.  Clicking that will take you to this screen:

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The highlighted option in the screen capture above (the fourth option on the page) is the link to the Boston Public Library database, where you can get your BPL card and begin going hog-wild:

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You can use the BPL’s catalog–and ours, as well–to find whatever reading material makes your heart skip a beat.  You can pick these books up where they live, at the BPL’s numerous branches and central library, or use ComCat to have it delivered to your home library–give us a call for more information!  For the sake of this particular post, let’s have a look at some of the novellas on offer–both through us, and via the BPL!

indexThe Ballad of Black Tom: It’s no secret that I have a thing for weird fiction, so as soon as I heard about Victor La Valle’s novel of Lovecraftian horror set in Jazz Age New York, there was nothing that was going to get between me and this 151 page thrill ride.  La Valle is a superb author, who works very complex and difficult real-world issues in to his intensely imagined, unsettling, and completely compelling fiction, and this book is a perfect sample of his talents.  Charles Thomas Tester may not be the best musician in Brooklyn, but he knows enough to put food on the table for him and his father, and knows the magic tricks to surviving in a deeply racist world.  But when he is hired by a reclusive, fiendishly powerful man from Queens, Tommy’s entire life changes.  Faced with unspeakable bigotry on one side and unimaginably dark powers on the other, only one thing is sure…Tommy will never be the same.  And neither will you after reading this haunting little book.

index (1)Chase MeTessa Bailey is a superb contemporary romance novelist all around, and I’ve never met a book of hers I didn’t love.  Though most of her works were published in e-book format only, her Broke and Beautiful series was released both electronically and in print, so you can savor these delightful stories in any way you wish.  Roxy Cumberland dropped out of college in order to follow her dreams of becoming an actress…but reality quickly stepped in, and now Roxy finds herself performing singing telegrams to make ends meet.  To add insult to injury, her very first client is a drop-dead handsome trust-fund Manhattanite in a giant pink bunny costume.  Louis McNally II has no plans to humor the absurd spectacle at his door, but the voice–and the face–of his singing visitor intrigues him, even if Roxy appears to want nothing to do with him, or his entitled lifestyle.  This opposites-attracting story is steamy, touching, and genuinely good fun from start to finish, and the perfect antidote for a gloomy day.

index (2)The Awakening: Melville House is a phenomenal publishing company (who also maintains a delightful website!), and their Art of the Novella series has really helped established the novella as a crucial genre in and of itself.  Among those works is Kate Chopin’s classic feminist novel about a woman trapped by marriage and her social situation.  At the time of its publication in 1899, the book was considered an irredeemable scandal that ended Chopin’s career.  Since then, thankfully, Chopin’s powerful prose and enduring message has become a classic, and readily available, thanks to Melville House and the BPL.  Check out all of the Art of the Novella books on offer, as well, in order to get a real sense of all the potential these books have to offer!

Saturdays @ the South: Celebrating 400+ Years of Shakespeare!

There was a star danced, and under that was I born” -Much Ado About Nothing

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MIT has a great resource of all of his plays collected electronically. Click the image to find them.

Happy Birthday, Bard!

I’m a Shakespeare nerd. This is less a bibliophile confession and more a statement that anyone who has known me for more than a day can pretty much figure out for themselves. My desk has had a perpetual Shakespeare-Quote-a-Day calendar on it since my mom gave it to me in high-school and it has been on every desk I’ve ever had since IMG_0973(here it is, now home at the South Branch and turned to a favorite quote).  An acquaintance in college professed her love for Shakespeare telling me she had a collection of *all* his sonnets. I countered by telling her I have four different editions of Shakespeare’s complete works (don’t judge me: they use different folio editions for their source material; there are different footnotes; some have illustrations!, i.e. they’re all different and, therefore, each is completely necessary.) Essentially I have lived my life believing that one can ever have too much Shakespeare.

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Shakespeare in Love with Shakespeare brilliantly played by Joseph Fiennes *sigh*

So I’ve been delighted that the quadricentennial of Shakespeare’s death is being celebrated in myriad ways and will continue to be celebrated pretty much throughout the year. I have had no dearth of Shakespeare articles to fuel my unending quest for more Shakespeare knowledge, lists are surfacing with extensive options for modern retellings of Shakespeare’s plays, and Goodreads declared this past week “Shakespeare Week” with some very cool bonus features of “deleted scenes” from Shakespeare plays imagined by authors who have reimagined Shakespeare in their own ways.

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I also recognize that not everyone is on quite the same level as I am in terms of Shakespeare fondness (obsession/mania… I’ve heard it both ways). So here are a couple of fascinating and delightfully quirky Shakespeare-related articles, not written in iambic pentameter, that have surfaced over the past few weeks:

  • In which a “new” first folio is discovered in the fairy-tale-sounding Isle of Bute in Scotland.
  • In which copies of the first folio take a rock-star tour of all 50 states.
  • “…and cursed be he that moves my bones…” In which Shakespeare “loses” his head…
  • In which NPR celebrates Shakespeare Week by relating him to his food culture.
  • In which London rearranges their Tube map to represent Shakespeare characters as subway stops.

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Part of the fascination for Shakespeare with me is that, despite his fame, we know so little about the details of his life.  Fortunately, there are wonderful books out there that try to suss out those scant, mystifying details with some historical sleuthing. A few of my favorites include:

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Will in the World by Stephen Greenblatt

Shakespeare: The World as Stage by Bill Bryson

Shakespeare by Michael Wood

These books manage to illuminate different parts of Shakespeare’s life while further understanding the time in which he lived. They work to reconstruct Renaissance London and Shakespeare’s birthplace, Stratford-upon-Avon. They rely less on the text of the plays, avoiding the trappings of assuming that an author has no imagination and couldn’t possibly write about things which he hasn’t himself experienced, and focus more on historical records, comparable situations and analysis of the London theatre scene in engaging narrative-styles.

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If this blog post has whet your whistle for things Shakespeare, but you’re not quite up for reading the plays themselves, here are some Shakespeare-inspired reimaginings that are particular favorites of mine or ones that I’m absolutely dying to read:

2667645Fool by Christopher Moore

This book was, in a word, hysterical. Moore did his research into Shakespeare’s works, and then proceeded to throw it out the window in the best possible way, to create the character of Pocket, a tiny, spry and nimble fool in the court of King Lear and detail his daring misadventures. Loosely based King Lear, using characters from the play, but illustrating them in modern and sometimes subversive ways, this witty, sarcastic (and -fair warning- somewhat raunchy) tale kept me laughing raucously. I listened to the audiobook and got some very strange looks while I was driving because I was laughing so hard – which automatically places a book high in my esteem. It also has a nearly-as-good sequel featuring many of the same outlandish characters, but two additional Shakespeare-based premises: The Serpent of Venice.

3643266The Gap of Time by Jeanette Winterson

This is the first in a series published by Hogarth who contacted authors and told them to pick whichever Shakespeare play they wanted and re-imagine it into a novel. Winterson picked Shakespeare’s weirdest play with the famous stage direction: “Exit, pursued by a bear” and explained her reasoning to the New York Times in this fascinating article. I loved  A Winter’s Tale as it’s the closest of Shakespeare’s plays that reads similarly to genre fiction and can’t wait to read this adaptation. Other authors that have signed up for this project include: Jo Nesbo, Gillian Flynn, Margaret Atwood and Tracy Chevalier and several of these books are being released this year and next. (Hooray!)

2986586The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown

This New York Times bestseller follows the Andreas sisters, whose father is a Shakespeare professor and named the girls after the Weird Sisters (often called the three witches) of Macbeth fame. Books are a family passion (with a motto like “there is no problem a library card can’t solve,” I’m already predisposed to like them immensely) but they don’t always help the family, particularly the sisters, communicate with each other. This is a particular patron favorite here at the South Branch and comes highly recommended from several of our regulars!

1653696The Late Mr. Shakespeare by Robert Nye

Goodreads’s description for this book includes the adjectives: “rich, strange, and wonderful.” Sign me up! This book is told from the perspective of Pickleherring, a now aging (and fictional) actor in Shakespeare’s original troupe and claiming he originated most of the female roles in Shakespeare’s plays. He recounts the raucous and bawdy times he spent in the troupe and with Mr. Shakespeare using far-fetched sources and myths and rumors to create this recreation of Shakespeare’s (possible) life.

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I hope this week you have been able to enjoy something pertaining to Shakespeare Week. You’ve still got a whole day left to do/read/listen to something Shakespeare-related (including this blog post, so mission accomplished!) If you’d like to tackle one of his original plays, Goodreads has a fantastic infographic (you know how I love those!) helping you determine “What Shakespeare play should I read next?” Till next week, dear readers: “To thine own self be true…”

Five Book Friday, Forsooth!

So it’s time once again for our Five Book Friday, but we’re serving that to you today with a side of Shakespeare, to really help you get in the mood for his Birthday Bash tomorrow.  So here are five immortal soliloquies for you to savor as you consider which books to come and take on your incredible weekend adventures.

Our first comes to us courtesy of The Guardian, which lined up a city’s worth of highly-regarded actors to perform Shakespeare in honor of his birthday (and death day, I suppose).  Here we have Roger Allam performing the “Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks” soliloquy from King Lear:

…And Eileen Atkins as Emilia in Othello, performing the ‘If wives do fall’ speech:

Next is David Tennant in Hamlet, directed by Gregory Doran:

And next is Tom Hiddleston performing Henry V’s St. Crispin’s Day speech, with thanks to WGBH’S Great Performances.

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Also from Great Performances comes Ben Whishaw in a phenomenal performance as Richard II.

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And now that you’re fully prepared for tomorrow’s celebrations, shall we take a look at the books?

 

Five Books

 

3712878The Everything Box: So this book is on the shelves at the South Branch, which is technically cheating for 5BF, but I’m in charge here, so we’re going to run with it.  From Richard Kadrey, creator of the Sandman Slim series, which is one of my favorite things in the history of The Things, comes a brand new tale about the angel who loses the key to humanity’s destruction, a thief named Coop who is hired to find and deliver it to particularly mysterious client, and The Department of Peculiar Science, the fearsome agency in charge of policing the otherworldly and supernatural, who are determined to contain it before it unleashes Armageddon.  While Kadrey’s imagination is like a cabinet of curiosities–a little dark, thoroughly entrancing, and wholly unique, he uses language in a way that makes even the mundane seem a bit wondrous–so you should read this book…as soon as I’m done with it, of course… Publisher’s Weekly agrees, saying, “Kadrey’s plot doesn’t depend on magic; instead, magic is the broth bringing all manner of delicious ingredients together in this wonderful stew of a story. This unusual urban fantasy is a delight.”  So you know what I’m doing this weekend…

3732608Downfall of the GodsK.J. Parker is a marvel of the novella, creating stories that are complex, engaging, and of the perfect length to be read in the course of a single sitting.  In this newest offering, we meet Lord Archias, a penitent at the Temple of the Goddess.  But there is little to indicate that Lord Archias’ wishes will be fulfilled–as the man who murdered the Goddess’ musician, it seems far more likely that he will be smote in revenge than rewarded.  But the Goddess’ father insists that she follow the rules, and set challenges for Lord Archias to follow, with the promise of redemption at the end.  If he survives to the end.  If he manages to survive long enough to begin….  Parker’s works may carry the “fantasy” sticker, but his work deals with the very real world issues of power, hubris, and just desserts, and this book packs plenty of imagination with a very healthy dose of humor (for more like this, check out Parker’s alter-ego, Tom Holt).  Library Journal loved this one, too, giving it a starred review, and saying, “Parker…bring[s] a full measure of snark to this novella. The Goddess’s interactions with her family are laugh-out-loud funny as is the increasingly hapless Lord Archias, who soon prays the Goddess will just leave him alone.”

3738142 (1)A Man Lies Dreaming: The Melville House has developed a phenomenal reputation for publishing the very oddest–and the most fascinating–book, and this Lavie Tidhar novel in an irrefutable example. Set partly in the world of a man named Shomer, an inmate at Auschwitz, and a pulp tale of a disillusioned German refugee who fled the Communist invasion to become a private detective in London, this book gradually brings these two men closer and closer together, with results that are wildly funny, bizarre, and profoundly heartbreaking.  This is a startling, unsettling book, especially as the truth behind the two mens’ tales become clear, but, precisely because of that, it’s a really important one, forcing us to question the stories we tell, and how we truly deal with our demons.  The Guardian loved this book as well, calling it “Brilliant . . . Shocking . . . A twisted masterpiece . . . A Holocaust novel like no other, Lavie Tidhar’s A Man Lies Dreaming comes crashing through the door of literature like Sam Spade with a .38 in his hand.

3738044 (1)The Universe in Your Hand: A Journey Through Space, Time, and BeyondChristophe Galfard is a theoretical physicist and a successful young adult author (he co-wrote with Stephen Hawking and his young daughter), which is a combination I have never before considered….but in this book, he combines those twin passions into a single book that delves into the most complex, mystifying aspects of our universe, from the death of stars to the true size of an atom, and explains each in beautifully straightforward, accessible language.  This is hardly the physics textbooks of high school.  Rather, Galfard maintains the wonder and imagination necessary to make the real beauty and power of the universe come to life.  Publisher’s Weekly raves “Entertaining and comprehensive… The deft and dazzling imagery makes difficult concepts accessible, streamlining the progression through topics and fulfilling Galfard’s promise to ‘not leave any readers behind.’… Readers looking to expand their knowledge of physics and cosmology will find everything they need here.”

3733574Your Song Changed My Life: As the creator of All Things Considered and Tiny Desk Concerts, Bob Boilen has met a heap of famous, influential, and intriguing people.  And, in each of his interviews with musicians, he asked one simple question: Is there a unforgettable song that changed your life?  This book is a collection of the remarkable and insightful answers that he has received, from artists as diverse as Hozier to The Decembrists’ Colin Meloy to Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy.  The range of answers, emotions, and experiences related in these essays are surprising, joyful, and delightful, and make the power of music, and the poetry that are song lyrics, tangible.  L.A. Weekly reveled in this book, observing that “Boilen clearly loves his job and loves musicians, and this good-naturedness comes through in Your Song Changed My Life. It’s a short geek-out of a music book…”

 

Shakespeare’s 400th: A Global Celebration

We chatted yesterday about the enormous influence Shakespeare had on the English language, and how his birthday is a good time celebrate not necessarily his age, but his modern cultural influences.

A recent production of Macbeth.  On stilts.  From the Edinburgh Festival.
A recent production of Macbeth. On stilts. From the Edinburgh Festival.

Today, I thought it might be fun to realize how much Shakespeare’s work has influenced not just the English-speaking world, but the entire population of this vast and diverse planet.  This year, the 400th anniversary of his death, has seen a huge number of productions of the Bard’s great work, in venues ranging from a garden in Kabul to a restaurant in Mumbai; and in formats as diverse as the people who perform them, including using Brazilian circus performers who help tell the tale of Romeo and Juliet and a Maori tradition war dance (known as a Haka) to interpret Troilus and Cressida.  Check out their journey to the Globe Theatre in London right here:

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You can check out the full range of incredible performances and performers at the website  Year of Shakespeare, which has tirelessly documented the various invocations of the Great Man’s work across the planet, many of which have been, or will be, performed at the Globe Theatre in London.

553405_10150849381308231_126328634_nWhat’s remarkable about these performance is the ways in Shakespeare is not just the fact that his work has inspired humans across the planet, and clearly continues to do so, but also in ways in which his work is invoked to tell modern stories about contemporary experiences, as well.  In Pakistan, actors use The Taming of the Shrew as way to explore the difficulties encountered by Pakistani women in today’s society (a picture of their performance at the Globe is to the left).  Bahgdad’s Iraq Theater Company staged a version of Romeo and Juliet to reflect contemporary rifts in society.  Check out a talk from the director below:

A Polish production of Macbeth has used the concept of insanity to look at all those ostracized and isolated from society, including drug addicts and gangsters, implicitly questioning not only Macbeth’s motivations, but our own.  A theater troupe from South Sudan–the newest country on the globe– has translated Cymbeline into Juba Arabic for the first time ever, and incorporated contemporary local slang and indigenous folklore, as a way of bringing Shakespeare’s story closer and closer to the current lived experience of its actors.  You can watch the incredible labor of love that this project is in the video below:

This week, Radio Free Europe released a video of Hamlet’s immortal “To be or not to be” soliloquy, performed by actors from countries across the former Soviet Union, each in their own native language.  Check it out in the clip below:

 

What is wondrous about all these performances is how intensely personal, how deeply felt, and how powerfully insightful each of these performances, and the countless others going on this year, truly are.  These are not the dull recitations of a man dead for four centuries…they are the living, breathing embodiment of a contemporary culture, using the words and tales handed down, generation by generation, from a remarkable storyteller.  These aren’t simply lines on a page–they have become the words through which actors, directors, and viewers around the world have spoken a truth about their own experiences, providing a voice to people who have so long been voiceless, and representation for those who might otherwise be overlooked, and uniting people around the world with plots and characters as real and recognizable today as they were in the 17th century.

That is nothing short of remarkable.  And it is the power that Shakespeare’s tale still have, and the freedom they have given to so many, that we are celebrating when we celebrate Shakespeare.  So check out Year of Shakespeare, and celebrate with us, wherever you are, and in whatever language speaks to your heart.

Never “Too much of a good thing”…

We are a celebratory lot here at the Free For All, and one of the biggest parties taking place in the literary world this year is the celebration of Shakespeare’s 400th birthday this coming Saturday.

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There are any number of celebrations going on this time of year, from the Royal Shakespeare Company’s live performance of some of the Bard’s greatest hits on Saturday to Chicago’s month-long Shakespeare festival, to the Shakespeariad, a joint venture between the British Council and the Russian school children to get Shakespeare into as many classrooms as possible.  Or, you can come to the Library, and check out our very own marvelous collection of Shakespeare biographies, works, and analysis, some of which are on the Free For All Book Display right now!

It’s easy, sometimes, to think of Shakespeare as antiquated, to remember how difficult it was read Macbeth in high school, or to think of his performances in black and white.  And all that makes it difficult to realize that Shakespeare’s work in an integral part of the new stories we are telling today.  Not only are his characters and plots (star-crossed lovers, duplicitous friends, greedy underlings) all ones to which we can still readily relate, but his use of words revolutionized the English language.  If you’ve ever told someone that a thing is a “foregone conclusion”, or that they are sending you “on a wild goose chase”, or that you are “lonely” or “uncomfortable”….heck, if you’ve ever told a knock-knock joke, you are invoking Shakespeare in the most modern way possible.

The Independent recently published a list of words and phrases to which we owe Shakespeare our thanks.  Have a look, and then come in and check out some of his plays–on paper or on dvd–and see for yourself just how powerful these works still are!

bb8a1d4a248005c667f9229e6cbae8c2– “Fancy-free” – A Midsummer Night’s Dream

– “Lie low” – Much Ado About Nothing

– “Send packing” – Henry IV

– “Foregone conclusion” – Othello

– “A sorry sight” – Macbeth

– “For goodness sake” – Henry VIII

– “Good riddance” – The Merchant of Venice

– “Neither here not there” – Othello

– “Mum’s the word” – Henry VI, Part II

– “What’s done is done” – Macbeth

– “Break the ice” – The Taming of the Shrew

– “Scuffle” – Antony and Cleopatra

– “Catch a cold” – Cymbeline

– “Uncomfortable” – Romeo and Juliet

– “Manager” – A Midsummer Night’s Dream

– “Devil incarnate” – Titus Andronicus

– “Dishearten” – Henry V

– “Eventful” – As You Like It

– “New-fangled” – Love’s Labour’s Lost

– “Hot-blooded” – King Lear

– “Eaten out of house and home” – Henry IV, Part II

– “Rant” – Hamlet

– “Knock knock! Who’s there?” – Macbeth

– “With bated breath” – The Merchant of Venice

– “Laughable” – The Merchant of Venice

– “Negotiate” – Much Ado About Nothing

– “Jaded” – King Henry VI

– “A wild goose chase” – Romeo and Juliet

– “Assassination” – Macbeth

– “Too much of a good thing” – As You Like It

– “A heart of gold” – Henry V

– “Such stuff as dreams are made on” – The Tempest

– “Fashionable” – Troilus and Cressida

– “Puking” – As You Like It

– “Dead as a doornail” – Henry VI, Part II

– “Not slept one wink” – Cymbeline

– “The world’s mine oyster” – The Merry Wives of Windsor

– “Obscene” – Love’s Labour’s Lost

– “Bedazzled” – The Taming of the Shrew

– “In stitches” – Twelfth Night

– “Addiction” – Othello

– “Faint-hearted” – Henry VI, Part I

– “One fell swoop” – Macbeth

– “Vanish into thin air” – Othello

– “Swagger” – Henry V

– “Own flesh and blood” – Hamlet

– “Zany” – Love’s Labour’s Lost

– “Give the devil his due” – Henry IV, Part I

– “There’s method in my madness” – Hamlet

– “Grovel” – Henry IV

– “Lonely” – Coriolanus

– “Unreal” – Macbeth

– “Salad days” – Antony and Cleopatra

– “Spotless reputation” – Richard II

– “Full circle” – King Lear

– “Epileptic” – King Lear

– “Arch-villain” – Timon of Athens

– “Bloodstained” – Titus Andronicus

– “All of a sudden” – The Taming of the Shrew

– “Come what, come may” – Macbeth

Sing, goddess, the anger of Peleus’ son Achilles…

Those of you lovely people who join us here at the Free For All, as well as you lovely people who have come into the Library recently will have heard about our Super Terrific Groundbreaking and Marvelous Marathon Reading of The Iliad.  And we really want you to be involved!  Come by the Library from 2-4pm today to meet with our sensational director, Liz, and try your hand at reading some of Homer’s immortal words.

Hey Homer!
Hey Homer!

 

In staging this marathon reading of The Iliad, we are joining the ranks of some pretty illustrious institutions and some pretty memorable events.  You have all heard me blather on about the performance of The Iliad at the British Museum and Almeida Theater last summer, which inspired our own production.   But there are a number of other, long-standing marathon readings that have become a sort of literary pilgrimage for many over the years.  Today, I thought it might be fun to think about some of those other readings–perhaps they will give you a suggestion for your next bookish vacation.  Perhaps they will inspire you to come down to The Library today to take part in our Iliad!

Moby Dick at the New Bedford Whaling Museum

nbwh_06mobydick1For the past 20 years, people have gathered in increasing numbers at the New Bedford Whaling Museum to take part in a 25-hour marathon reading of Herman Melville’s transcendent classic.  This year, in honor of the platinum anniversary, the Museum hosted Nathaniel Philbrick, author of In the Heart of the Sea (a book about the ship that inspired Melville to write his own work) to star as Ishmael.  This event is enormous, with lectures, food, singing, and a beautifully inclusive atmosphere where all are truly welcome.  Sections of Moby Dick are reading Japanese, Italian, Danish, Spanish, Hebrew, Russian, French, and even Braille (followed by the English), so that visitors from around the world can take part in this truly momentous event.  You can watch the events from 2014 on the Museum’s Vimeo account, and be sure to check out all the fascinating programs going on around the reading, as well!

Ulysses in Dublin, Ireland…and around the world…

James Joyce celebrations. People dressed as 'Boomsday' characters gather in Dun Laoighaire Co Dublin, during a Guinness World Record attempt to have most people dressed as ÔBloomsdayÕ characters, during an event which celebrates the work of author James Joyce's most celebrated novel 'Ulysses'. Picture date: Sunday June 16, 2013. Photo credit should read: Julien Behal/PA Wire URN:16823543

James Joyce’s classic novel of Leopold Bloom takes place over the course of a single day: June 16, 1904.  As a result, the day has come to be known as “Bloomsday” amongst Joyce aficionados, and marathon readings take place around the globe in celebration of what many consider to be the greatest novel ever written.  From New Orleans to Washington, D.C., from Hungary to Japan, there are any number of opportunities to get into the Bloomsday Festivities.  But there is no Bloomsday like Bloomsday in Dublin.  The first Bloomsday was celebrated in 1954, and just gets bigger (and better) every year.  The celebration lasts for a week, and is as much as celebration of the city as of Joyce himself, with readers following Bloom’s footsteps around the city, reading from Ulysses (often in costume), and reveling in the moveable feast of a party.   For those who aren’t able to make it in time for Bloomsday, you can still following Bloom’s trials, thanks to plaques and statues set around the city of Dublin, marking each significant locale in the novel.

Dante’s Divine Comedy in Florence…and around the world… 

casa-dante-6Though arguably the shortest of these marathons, clocking around 6 hours, the marathon readings of Dante’s Divine Comedy is fast becoming a world-wide sensation.  The original production in Florence (Dante’s hometown) features readers in colored jerseys moving from the outskirts of the city (Hell) to the steps of the Duomo (Heaven).  From Florence, Dante has spread around the world, with marathon readings taking place from Ireland to Illinois–where readings took place in more than fifteen languages.

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…What is it about marathon readings?  There are a number of people who are nearly spraining a muscle in the act of eye-rolling over the rise of these productions, calling them nothing more than a production of the social-media internet-savvy age: “The social experience that a marathon reading offers…is as close as anything in real life gets to hanging out online. You’re not sure who you’re with, but you’re all staring at the same thing” says the New Republic.  In part, I think they’re right…these events are a product of an age where we are increasingly encouraged to use language in an effort not to communicate directly.  But what they are missing is the way that stories can bring us together, and unite us, even in our own silence.  We are a story-telling species, and there is a part of our brain that, no matter how much we might rely on texts, updates, headlines, and click-bait, cannot resist hearing a story being told–not by a computer, but by another human voice.  There is something magical about watching a story unfold in person…not on a screen or a monitor…and feeling united with others–often total strangers–in a journey of the imagination.

Don’t believe me?  Well, you’ll just have to turn out for our own production the The Iliad and see for yourself!

"Once you learn to read, you will be forever free." ~Frederick Douglass