February
The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 17.0036 Wednesday, 15 February 2006 From: Geoff Ridden <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. > Date: Wednesday, 15 Feb 2006 09:38:06 -0000 Subject: Re-reading Hamlet Two recent re-workings of Hamlet emphasise and re-configure the role of Polonius. Charlotte Jones's 2001 play Humble Boy and in Stephen Churchett's recent TV drama, screened in the UK last month, Lewis (think Inspector Morse) both use the plot of Hamlet, but replace Claudius as Gertrude's lover with the figure of Polonius. Is this a sign of the way in the twenty-first century might view the play? _______________________________________________________________ S H A K S P E R: The Global Shakespeare Discussion List Hardy M. Cook,This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. The S H A K S P E R Web Site <http://www.shaksper.net> DISCLAIMER: Although SHAKSPER is a moderated discussion list, the opinions expressed on it are the sole property of the poster, and the editor assumes no responsibility for them.
The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 17.0035 Wednesday, 15 February 2006 From: Larry Weiss <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. > Date: Wednesday, 15 Feb 2006 01:42:03 -0500 Subject: Vastation Harold Bloom in his "Invention of the Human" says the following about Antony and Cleopatra's mutual fascination with each other: "Certainly it is less of a bewilderment, less of a vastation, than the familial love that afflicts Lear and Edgar" (p. 549). Bloom is notorious for this; hardly a chapter goes by without some incomprehensible word having no generally recognized acceptation cropping up to spoil the flow of his thesis. So far as I know, no one has called him on this; possibly for fear of pointing out the emperor's nakedness. I have a fair collection of excellent dictionaries, some purporting to be unabridged. Yet "vastation" stumps them all, as it does my spell-checker. A search of the online compact OED comes up with nothing. A Google search turn up few accessible lexigraphical entries. One, from the 1913 Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, defining "vastation" as "A laying waste; waste; depopulation; devastation [Obs]" But that definition hardly makes sense in the context of Bloom's usage. And, if it was obsolete in 1913, why did Bloom resurrect it in 1998? Even less likely is "purification," with "vastation" as the noun form of the verb "to vastate" (i.e., to immunize). Somewhat related to "purification" is the use of the word in Swedenborgian theology, such as the concept of "vastation of state": "Vastation of state is when we have the experience that our former way of operating isn't working anymore, and we are miserable." Does Bloom assume his readers are versed in obscure Swedenborgian theology? _______________________________________________________________ S H A K S P E R: The Global Shakespeare Discussion List Hardy M. Cook,This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. The S H A K S P E R Web Site <http://www.shaksper.net> DISCLAIMER: Although SHAKSPER is a moderated discussion list, the opinions expressed on it are the sole property of the poster, and the editor assumes no responsibility for them.
The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 17.0034 Wednesday, 15 February 2006 From: Tom Bishop <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. > Date: Tuesday, 14 Feb 2006 14:03:45 -0500 Subject: 17.0028 Harbage and Greg Comment: Re: SHK 17.0028 Harbage and Greg Dear Bill, Could you briefly detail any advantage Kawachi has over Harbage, as you see it? Tom _______________________________________________________________ S H A K S P E R: The Global Shakespeare Discussion List Hardy M. Cook,This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. The S H A K S P E R Web Site <http://www.shaksper.net> DISCLAIMER: Although SHAKSPER is a moderated discussion list, the opinions expressed on it are the sole property of the poster, and the editor assumes no responsibility for them.
The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 17.0033 Wednesday, 15 February 2006 From: Nicholas Clary <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. > Date: Wednesday, 15 Feb 2006 09:26:56 -0500 Subject: Summer Programs for Actors A student of mine, who will have a major role in The Comedy of Errors on campus this semester is interested in summer Shakespeare programs for actors-particularly, though not exclusively-in New England. If you have any suggestions, fire away! Thanks, Nick Clary _______________________________________________________________ S H A K S P E R: The Global Shakespeare Discussion List Hardy M. Cook,This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. The S H A K S P E R Web Site <http://www.shaksper.net> DISCLAIMER: Although SHAKSPER is a moderated discussion list, the opinions expressed on it are the sole property of the poster, and the editor assumes no responsibility for them.
The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 17.0032 Wednesday, 15 February 2006 From: William Proctor Williams <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. > Date: Tuesday, 14 Feb 2006 13:39:20 -0500 Subject: Handsome Richard III? A student asked a question in my class last night which I couldn't answer and perhaps folk on the list can. Has there ever been a production of Richard III, recently would be nice by anytime will do, with Richard played by an incredibly handsome man with no deformities whatsoever? Thanks for the help, and I will credit the answer(s) to you and not to me. William Proctor Williams _______________________________________________________________ S H A K S P E R: The Global Shakespeare Discussion List Hardy M. Cook,This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. The S H A K S P E R Web Site <http://www.shaksper.net> DISCLAIMER: Although SHAKSPER is a moderated discussion list, the opinions expressed on it are the sole property of the poster, and the editor assumes no responsibility for them.