Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Was Shakespeare a conservative?

“There are two things which a democratic people will always find very difficult – to begin a war and to end it.”
– Alexis de Tocqueville

Exposed teeth, bunched cheeks, crinkled eyes: A smile is a peculiar thing, not least because of the spooky similarity between laughter and crying...Two faced


Shakespeare’s history plays are largely concerned with “legitimacy.” He had to walk a creative line politically since Queen Elizabeth’s grandfather, Henry Tudor, had come to power in a rebellion against King Richard III, so Richard had to be demonized. But unsuccessful rebels had to be bad or at least misguided (e.g., the rebel Hotspur in Henry IV Pt. 1 is charismatic and brave, but in the wrong).

After E.M. Forster began A Passage to India, he was blocked for nine years. Who can say why? He was so timid and repressed... Cold river a decade of inaction

In the writing world, editors rule and writers are second-class citizens. The problem: Editors go about editing whether it is necessary or not... Preditors