Paul Adrian Fried / HAMLET'S BIBLE

Music and Musicality in Shakespeare - a video by Andrew Bretz (1975-2018). Here’s a link to one of Andrew Bretz’s fine videos, This one, about music in, and the musicality of, Shakespeare. It had only 69 views as of this morning, but is deserving of many more. Andrew and I followed one another on Twitter; he was Acting Project Coordinator for the Canadian Shakespeare Association, taught in the English Department at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, and produced a number of interesting, helpful and polished videos about Shakespeare and other subjects related to literature and writing. Andrew died on Tuesday, August 21. He was only 42 years old. His family has set up a fund for a scholarship in his name, to which I'll provide a link in the first comment below this post. The English Department at Queens U also noted his passing and has resources for students and faculty who are mourning his death. I'll put a link there in another comment below this post. Schola...

SCIENCE INFLUENCED & RESTRICTED ANALYSIS OF BIBLICAL ALLUSIONS IN SHAKESPEARE'S PLAYS — AND INFLUENCED THE PLAYS AS WELL The long shadow of science had a restrictive influence on Shakespeare critics who tried to catalog biblical allusions in his plays: Perhaps caught up in enthusiasm for the scientific method, some literary scholars rejected what they viewed as too-subjective biblical allusions and influences (paraphrase and plot echo), and favored instead what seemed to them more like objective data: allusions that contained exact or nearly-exact bible quotes that could be matched with bible translations available at the time: See books by Charles Wordsworth (1864), Thomas Carter (1905), Richmond Noble (1935), and Naseeb Shaheem (1987-1999). Yet in “Truth and Method,” his famous book on interpretation/hermeneutics, Hans Georg Gadamer stressed that the arts and scholars of the arts should not feel obligated to conform to so-called scientific methods. I agree. Also, Natal...

WHEN EVERYTHING STARTS TO LOOK LIKE HAMLET I read the#prologue of the best-selling novel, “The Flicker of Old Dreams” by Susan Henderson , and liked it right away: It was a lot like Hamlet! And being obsessed with Hamlet as I am, what’s not to like? —A key character (athletic “royalty”?) dies before the main action begins. —Some think the younger brother (as in Hamlet) was responsible. —One dad seems to have toxic masculinity issues (like Claudius & the dead king); another father-figure is kinder (like Yorick). —Things are rotten, out of joint, needing to be set right (and wheat at the grain elevator literally rots). —Gossip plays a strong role, like poison in the ear. —Characters like gravediggers (mortician, embalmer) play key roles; one of these is the kinder dad (like the gravedigger who channels the spirit of Yorick). Coincidence? We shall see! Will a key character kill a love interest’s dad, then sail toward England (at least metaphorically) but jump on a pirate s...

UK SHAKESPEARE MAG ISSUE 14—WHO IS HAMLET? "Who the Hell is Hamlet?" has many good articles, many of them about recent productions, but others as well: https://issuu.com/shakespearemagazine/docs/shakespeare_magazine_14/5 —Rhodri Lewis has a wonderful article (p.6) on Hamlet's age, with a fresh approach (many claim he's 30, based on the gravedigger's word, but Lewis has good reason not to trust that); —Article on Tom Hiddleston (p.14) as Hamlet, directed by Kenneth Branagh, in a production that included women cast in some of the traditionally male roles (Horatio, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern). —Another article on Andrew Scott (who played Moriarity in the BBC Sherlock Holmes series) as Hamlet, with surveillance technology playing a key role (a relevant twist that was also explored by Shakespeare Theatre Company earlier this year). —On Daisy Ridley's Ophelia film —Article, "Why Do Women Love Hamlet?" by Samira Ahmed —Sample art from The Victori...

BALDWIN: "WHY I STOPPED HATING SHAKESPEARE" Today (August 2) is James Baldwin's birthday. He once wrote an essay called "Why I Stopped Hating Shakespeare": "found in The Cross of Redemption: Uncollected Writings (public library)," in which he describes how certain lines in Julius Caesar became his point of access for a more sympathetic reading of Shakespeare. Here is Maria Popova at Brain Pickings , doing what she does best, and sending such gems our way: https://www.brainpickings.org/2016/11/11/james-baldwin-shakespeare-language-poetry/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ [Originally posted around the week of 8/2/18 on LinkedIn ] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Links to a description of my book project: On LinkedIn : https://lnkd.in/eJGBtqV On this blog : https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2017/05/hamlets-bible-my-book-project-im.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ #Shakespeare #Literature #LiteraryCr...