Today in Labor History December 10, 1896: Alfred Jarry's play, Ubu Roi, premiered in Paris. At the end of the performance, a riot broke out. Many in the audience were confused and outraged by the obscenity and disrespect they felt in the performance. Others, like W. B. Yeats, thought it was revolutionary. Jarry’s work was a precursor to Dada, Surrealism and the Theatre of the Absurd. Ubu Roi is a parody of Shakespeare's Macbeth and parts of Hamlet and King Lear. However, having recently reread the play, I found an uncanny resemblance between Pere Ubu and Donald Trump.
Why yes, I will completely avoid the present this evening by tucking into my nearly 70-year-old edition of 7 Types of Ambiguity. Appropriate that it arrived today when, to rephrase #Shakespeare, I've been feeling quite out of joint in time.
An instant international bestseller: a suspenseful, sweeping historical epic for readers of Natalie Haynes and Madeline Miller, which boldly reimagines the origin story of the woman who inspired one of Shakespeare’s most iconic characters, Lady Macbeth.
Just finished a very good fiction book, so pivoting to some history for something a little different. Today I started A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare: 1599 by James Shapiro. Looking forward to spending some quality time in 16th century London. @bookstodon#AmReading#Bookstodon#Books#History#NonFiction#Shakespeare
As an avid reader I find research suggesting over 50% of 8-18yr olds do not 'enjoy reading' in their spare time particularly depressing!
Part of this is a Q. of them having a quiet space to read, but in part must also be related to #socialmedia sucking up their time & also (possibly) to the way that reading is framed as instrumental (not enjoyable) for #education?
As someone who has benefitted immeasurably from #reading, I so hope this can be reversed
@ChrisMayLA6@bookstodon I didn't make much of #shakespeare 's comedies, until I got to see one by chance in the re-created globe in London (walked past on a trip with a friend, they had last-minute tickets and went in - the atmosphere was fabulous, quite different from other theatres).
My reading of Demetrius' and Chiron's execution scene from Shakespeare's "Titus Andronicus" in early 17th century pronunciation. I used a rather more innovative accent for Publius than for Titus.
People: "Stuff is so violent these days, we didn't use to have such gratuitous violence in entertainment"
@azforeman@linguistics@poetry@histodons@bookstodon@litstudies Book bans happening everywhere and not one mention of banning #Shakespeare. I have always said that if school boards and public school teachers actually understood what was being said in Romeo and Juliet, they would never allow middle schoolers to read it! Bill was a dirty ol' man. But you are right, Titus is violent to an extreme.
@azforeman@linguistics@poetry@histodons@bookstodon@litstudies Of course, I am not suggesting that #Shakespeare be banned, or that any book be banned. However, I do think some of his plays such as Romeo and Juliet should be reserved for undergrad. Still, on the topic of Discourse Theory and the Literary Canon, his status should be downgraded. We have been getting better at building a more inclusive Literary Canon, but still have a long way to go. Authoritative Discourse matters.
#OnThisDay in #history - in 1598, The Merchant of Venice by William #Shakespeare is entered into the Stationer's Register. While the play had been written and performed before this, paying for it to be put on the Register allowed for them to claim printing rights on the work.
Those rights were later transferred to Thomas Heyes, who printed the play in the First Quarto in 1600, providing some textual basis for the 1623 First Folio collection. https://stationersregister.online/ #OTD#histodons@histodons