Wednesday, March 30, 2016
Shakespeare in the Globe with cristall diamonds
JANE SUTCLIFFE – JOHN SHELLEY – WILL’S WORDS, HOW WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
CHANGED THE WAY YOU TALK – 2016
A very fascinating book. Light
and beautiful with its full page illustrations. The whole story seems to be a
touristic presentation of London in Shakespeare’s days and the attempt of
drawing twenty-nine words from everyday street or theater life and look for
them in Shakespeare’s plays, find them, explain them and indicate where they
come from, which play they have been extracted from.
Some of these phrases are still
commonly used, others have become obsolete. The author tries to remain as
politically correct as possible and does not mention that you can easily hear
“For Goodness sake” in the place of “For God’s sake” among people who still
abide by the commandment that says “Thou shalt not use the name of the Lord in
vain.”
The funnier element is that every
phrase is “illustrated” with a short summary of the situation in which it was
used in the precise play it is coming from. But the author does not give the
quotation and that is a shame. We have the Canada Dry of the advertisement but
it is no Scotch. Too bad because it is always better to speak to the Lord
rather than to his angels.
A book that can be a nice present
to someone who likes pictures and slightly exotic pieces of knowledge. You can
also visit the reconstructed Globe and imagine what it was in the old days.
Dr Jacques COULARDEAU
# posted by Dr. Jacques COULARDEAU @ 2:01 PM 
