Which character in Shakespeare do you identify with most strongly? And, assuming you were capable of doing so, which Shakespearean role would you most like to play? The two questions are not quite the same. When I was asked the first question some years ago over a few drinks in the pub, I had answered [...]
Archive for January, 2012
25 Jan
What is “poetry”?
As we all know, all writing is either prose or poetry, so it seems reasonable to say “If it ain’t poetry, it’s prose, and if it ain’t prose, it’s poetry”. So the question of defining poetry is really a matter of distinguishing between the two, and the best distinction I have heard came from my [...]
24 Jan
The many lives of Holmes & Watson
Certain characters, once they are created, are no longer merely the author’s creations: each age reinvents them, finds new possibilities. Don Quixote has been interpreted both as visionary and as fool; Prince Hamlet has been portrayed as everything from sweet prince to psychotic thug. There are those who would hesitate to place Holmes and Watson [...]
22 Jan
“Our Mutual Friend” by Charles Dickens: Book the Second – “Birds of a Feather”
“Our Mutual Friend” by Charles Dickens: Book the First – “The Cup and the Lip” “Our Mutual Friend” by Charles Dickens: Book the Third – “A Long Lane” “Our Mutual Friend” by Charles Dickens: Book the Fourth – “A Turning” At the start of the second part, Dickens completes the exposition by introducing Bradley Headstone, Charley Hexam’s teacher. [...]
15 Jan
“Our Mutual Friend” by Charles Dickens: Book the First – “The Cup and the Lip”
“Our Mutual Friend” by Charles Dickens: Book the Second – “Birds of a Feather” “Our Mutual Friend” by Charles Dickens: Book the Third – “A Long Lane” “Our Mutual Friend” by Charles Dickens: Book the Fourth – “A Turning” Beginnings are notoriously difficult. Until the reader gets to know the characters, they are nothing more than made-up names; [...]
3 Jan
The “literary genre”
…either for tragedy, comedy, history, pastoral, pastoral-comical, historical-pastoral, tragical-historical, tragical-comical-historical-pastoral… - From Hamlet, II, ii We’ve always had genres. Even Homer, I imagine, knew that The Iliad and The Odyssey belonged to different genres. Over time, genres appear and disappear, sub-genres develop: there’s nothing particularly new about any of this. But one genre appears to [...]
