'What a piece of work is a man! How noble in reason, how infinite in faculty! In form and moving how express and admirable! In action how like an Angel! in apprehension how like a god! The beauty of the world! The paragon of animals! And yet to me, what is this quintessence of dust?' … Continue reading
Shakespeare
Travel update
A 'working holiday' is kind of how we're describing it, though it's hard to explain to strangers the work I'm doing: preparing for a book festival, writing occasional travel blog posts (many of which I can re- or cross-post here), editing an anthology and writing a chapbook. Not to mention the research I want to … Continue reading Travel update
Thoughts on Shakespeare and Anonymous
Are you a Stratfordian or an Oxfordian? For a long time I’ve avoided the debate around Shakespeare’s ‘true identity’. Partly because, like many people, I enjoy the romantic idea of the enigmatic genius. And partly because any debate around authorship (I believed) could potentially take away from the focus on, and the enjoyment of, the … Continue reading Thoughts on Shakespeare and Anonymous
20 classics in 2011 #6: Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
I’m reading 20 classic, modern-classic or cult books in 2011. Read more about this project here. Why did I want to read it? I love Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, and dystopian fiction in general. Plus, the sections of my work-in-progress that people have read have been compared to Brave New World. I thought it was about time I read it … Continue reading 20 classics in 2011 #6: Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Two Hamlets
Hamlet: A Novel, John Marsden, Text, 9781921351471, 2008 (Australia) + Hamlet (film), directed by Kenneth Branagh, 1996. John Marsden has always had a distinct ability to grasp and express adolescent experience. His Hamlet: a Novel is highly accessible for an audience familiar with heightened perceptions of desire, deception, unfairness, traps, loneliness, defiance, and existential angst. If you are familiar … Continue reading Two Hamlets
But in a Fiction, in a Dream of Passion
Last night I went to that gorgeous old theatre The Astor to see the full-length version of Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet. I will soon be doing a discussion piece about this version and John Marsden's recent novel adaptation (and express my enthusiasm for Shakespeare in more detail). For now, out of so many powerful scenes, I'll share … Continue reading But in a Fiction, in a Dream of Passion
