Shakespeare
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Shakespearing #28: Othello
Shakespearing #28 by David Foley Othello Othello is about as streamlined and relentless a play as Shakespeare ever wrote. It’s as if he’s inventing the form of the psychological thriller—the claustrophobic dread, the implacable villain, even the false hope of a reprieve dangled before us. And it’s a tragedy, too, of course, but it’s a… Continue reading
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Shakespearing #24: Twelfth Night
Shakespearing #24 by David Foley Twelfth Night I am sure that a lot of the coyness and silliness that accompanies productions of Shakespeare that include cross-dressing roles is an attempt to steer them clear of the Queer. This is Jeanette Winterson in one of her more high-handed modes, and it always makes me want to… Continue reading
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Shakespearing #22: As You Like It
Shakespearing #22 by David Foley As You Like It I’ve probably fallen too easily into the assumption that the order I’m using for Shakespeare’s plays reflects an actual order of composition. Go online and you’ll find chronologies that vary significantly from Riverside’s. So my sense that As You Like It acted for Shakespeare as a… Continue reading
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Shakespearing #21: Julius Caesar
Shakespearing #21 by David Foley Julius Caesar It’s a little spooky to read Julius Caesar right after re-reading René Girard’s Violence and the Sacred. The language of sacrifice surrounds Caesar’s murder. “Let’s be sacrificers, but not butchers,” says Brutus. “Let’s carve him as a dish fit for the gods.” In flattering Caesar, Decius spells out… Continue reading
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Shakespearing #20: Henry V
Shakespearing #20 by David Foley Henry V Maybe Obama is Henry V. Both sowed wild oats (a little blow, a little sack). Both spent their youth working with the common folk (community organizing, highway robbery). And as a result both bring to the problem of ruling a nuanced understanding of the world’s complexity and a… Continue reading
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Shakespearing #18: Henry IV, Part 2
Shakespearing #18 by David Foley Henry IV, Part 2 Maybe because I read Henry IV, Part 2 in fits and starts, over a few weeks, it strikes me as less a play than a series of virtuosic vamps whose central theme doesn’t become clear until the end. That theme turns out to be the apotheosis… Continue reading
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Shakespearing 17.2: Lears
Shakespearing 17.2 by David Foley Lears (An Interlude) Note: In my project of reading all of Shakespeare’s plays in order, I’m still a long way from King Lear. What follows are thoughts about seeing a recent production. When I entered NYU’s Skirball Center a couple of weeks ago—exhausted from four hours of teaching, a little… Continue reading
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Shakespearing #17.1: More on Merry Wives of Windsor
Shakespearing #17.1 by John King More on Merry Wives of Windsor Pardon my commandeering David Foley’s wonderfully textual Shakespearean blog for one week, in order to prolong the magic of the discussion of The Merry Wives of Windsor. I have read Merry Wives, even though I probably have only read a little more than half of… Continue reading
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Shakespearing #17: The Merry Wives of Windsor
Shakespearing #17 by David Foley The Merry Wives of Windsor The Merry Wives of Windsor was one of three Shakespeare plays I’d neither read nor seen when I began this project. (The other two were King John and The Two Noble Kinsmen.) I can’t say I was missing much. Riverside’s introduction repeats the tradition that… Continue reading
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Shakespearing #16: Henry IV, Part 1
Shakespearing #16 by David Foley Henry IV, Part 1 I wasn’t looking forward to re-reading Henry IV. It’s not that I don’t like it, but its central trope has become stale from a hundred Hollywood films: the wastrel son redeeming himself when the chips are down. Do we really need to run that tape again?… Continue reading
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The Drunken Odyssey is a forum to discuss all aspects of the writing process, in a variety of genres, in order to foster a greater community among writers.
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