February 23rd, 2006
Shakespeare - cause of death: cancer
Did Shakespeare die of cancer? A German academic seems to think so and has claimed, based on portraits of the playwright, that swellings over his left eye indicate that he was suffering from lymph cancer. Prof Hildegard Hammerschmidt-Hummel claims the writer endured the illness for approximately 15 painful years, which eventually led to his death.
February 23rd, 2006 at 12:00 pm
I got quite excited there when I saw the heading - I thought you meant shakespeare causes cancer thereby providing the best possible excuse not to read it.
February 23rd, 2006 at 2:07 pm
You know, I felt the same way about him in school but then read more of the plays when in college and really saw how timelessly great they are.
I remember doing Julius Caesar for my Inter (Junior) Cert with a teacher who insisted on just reading the play and updating every line in modern vernacular. We didn’t really look at the play in totality or the themes so it kind of ruined the experience.
One of my favourites is The Tempest so if you haven’t read it, maybe give it try? You can always cheat and watch the Peter Greenaway’s film version, Prospero’s Books, with John Geilgud.
February 23rd, 2006 at 3:24 pm
Have you read the French translation Une Tempete by Aimé Césaire? The slant is completely changed and is a lot more sympathetic toward Caliban. It’s well worth a read, if you have a bit of French that is.
February 23rd, 2006 at 3:32 pm
Thanks Dolores, I haven’t read that, but as Caliban is the most interesting character in it, I’d be tempted if my French wasn’t so rusty.
How goes Tales of a Receptionist?
February 23rd, 2006 at 6:09 pm
Tales of a Receptionist died a long, slow death, sadly. My updates became so sparse I decided to just stop doing them altogether. That, and the fact I left my receptionist job for college… it just felt like a natural progression. I recently started a new comic, though it’s pretty different from TOAR in terms of both style and tone (no more MSpaint for Dol!) Once I was bit by the webcomicking bug, there was no going back…
February 24th, 2006 at 9:11 am
My mother is an english teacher and has spent most of her life trying to get us to love shakespeare without much success - even my baby sis who’s majoring in English doesn’t have any great gra for him. I’ve read a lot of his stuff and particularly like Merchant of Venice (if only for portia’s wonderful argument!!!) but I very often just don’t feel like there’s a good story. I love his poetry but yes, am very selective when it comes to his plays. Then again I should say that I always find it difficult to connect with plays as a piece of literature - it’s not my favourite form.