Thursday, August 17, 2006

Shakespeare's sister

My husband is back from his travels to the beach, and my sister-in-law stopped by tonight to bring us coffee (wait, no, she stopped by to bring us other things, actually, but the coffee was the most important).

She asked how my work was going and I told her I had done a lot of reading. Looking around the room, she said "yes, there are books everywhere. Shakespeare is everywhere." I hadn't thought about it, but it does appear that a Shakespeare cyclone has settled on our front room - from his works, to critical works, it could be a veritable Shakespeare festival. Underneath it all, though, is hidden a fortune in Greek epics and talk of heroes.

This will be my life for the next few months. Heroes all around me. I feel quite overwhelmed.

Tonight, though, I'll leave my heroes on their battlefields and read, sans highlighter and post-its and notes in the margins, The Grapes of Wrath. It is a pretty sad state of affairs when your comfort literature is about a family escaping the Depression by finding more depression. Although I do think I see some heroic qualities in them. Just not tonight.

3 comments:

Flubberwinkle said...

Pardon me if I come off as nosy, but why has Shakespeare invaded your home?

"The lady doth study too much, methinks."
:-)

melusina said...

Well, I'm finally delving deep into my thesis research, after months (years) of contemplating too much. I think it is the curse of including Hamlet in the thesis topic. At least, I'll blame it him anyway. Although you'd think Henry V would help propel me forward more.

It is mostly an exploration of the hero motive/call to action, focusing on Achilleus and Hamlet, but taking into account a few other folks along the way and discussing at some length the heroic ideal through the ages - how it evolves from Homer to Shakespeare.

Anonymous said...

Very cool topic!

(I assume you know your Joseph Campbell very well!)

There is a book that you may find useful- The Writer's Journey:Mythic Structure for Writer's by Christopher Vogler

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0941188701/sr=1-1/qid=1155992283/ref=pd_bbs_1/103-0317227-0912668?ie=UTF8&s=books

While it is for writers- to think about The Heros Journey when they structure your story, you might find it useful. . .