January 20th, 2015 → 6:07 am
“So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.” – Sonnet 55
I’ve been reading some commentary about Shakespeare from the Harvard scholar Marjorie Garber, and she claims that the world has become “Shakspearized” – i.e. that the bard’s quotes, images, and allusions are everywhere. I have to admit, I like that word – Shakspearized. Shakspearized. Shakspearized. I’ve got to find a way to use it in every day conversation. 🙂
Filed under: Blog & Literature/Theatre/Art
December 21st, 2014 → 5:25 am
“The plot is laid.” – Henry VI
Since The Other Shakespeare came out, a surprising number of people have asked me what my next novel is going to be about. I hadn’t really thought much about my next novel. I mean, I have a folder full of scraps of ideas I’ve written down over the years, but for all I know they’re terrible, like the detritus of a bad dream, best left behind and forgotten. And then in bed yesterday morning, while cuddling my son as he slowly woke up, I had an idea. I’m going to spend the next couple of months researching it and getting a feel for its plausibility, but I think the plot may be laid! Happy Holidays and see everyone in 2015!
Filed under: Blog & Literature/Theatre/Art & Self/My Life
December 10th, 2014 → 5:22 am
“[Her] words are a very fantastical banquet.” – Much Ado About Nothing
I’ve been invited to write a number of guest blog posts, in promotion of The Other Shakespeare. Check out the first batch!
“(Some of) The Women of Queen Elizabeth’s Court”
Filed under: Blog & Literature/Theatre/Art & Self/My Life
November 10th, 2014 → 5:14 am
The Other Shakespeare goes on sale this week. Ahhhhhhhh!!
http://www.amazon.com/Other-Shakespeare-Lea-Rachel/dp/0990861600/
https://www.facebook.com/authorlearachel
Filed under: Blog & Literature/Theatre/Art & Self/My Life
November 3rd, 2014 → 6:42 am
“I will a round unvarnished tale deliver…” – Othello
My novel, The Other Shakespeare, is in the publication process and almost available for sale. How exciting!!
Filed under: Blog & Literature/Theatre/Art & Self/My Life
October 23rd, 2014 → 6:08 am
“Is it not strange that sheep’s guts should hale souls out of men’s bodies?” – Much Ado About Nothing
I agree. It is weird to contemplate…
Filed under: Blog & Literature/Theatre/Art & Other
October 7th, 2014 → 5:49 am
“What hempen home-spuns have we swaggering here,
So near the cradle of the fairy queen?” – A Midsummer Night’s Dream
I’ve seen a bunch of articles lately about the origin of certain slang words including “swag,” and how, actually, many slang words we use today really aren’t that new or unique at all. Swag and swagger, for example, have been around for hundreds of years, including, notably, in Shakespeare. So does that make modern entertainers like Jay Z and Justin Bieber not all that cool, or does it just make Shakespeare even hipper than I thought it was possible for him to already be??
Filed under: Blog & Literature/Theatre/Art
September 14th, 2014 → 5:53 am
“You are as a candle, the better part burnt out.” – Henry IV, Part II
Apparently the age-old Shakespeare denier conspiracy theorists are at it again. This time a bunch of scholarly professors, battling out whether the theory is worth an academic publication or not. I can tell you that I did do a bit of research on this myself a number of years ago, and I found it all bunk. No one wrote Shakespeare but Shakespeare.
Filed under: Blog & Literature/Theatre/Art & Stupid/Evil People
August 14th, 2014 → 5:29 am
“I have of late, but
wherefore I know not, lost all my mirth,
forgone all custom of exercises; and indeed,
it goes so heavily with my disposition that this goodly frame,
the earth, seems to me a sterile promontory.” – Hamlet
I’ve found the outpouring of grief over Robin Williams‘ suicide to be surprisingly high among my friends. He was a great comedian, no doubt, but I think it must also have something to do with my age group. Anyone in their late thirties/early forties grew up with Robin Williams; I remember watching Mork and Mindy when I came home from school in the afternoons, and of course I saw most of his major movies. It’s hard to imagine comedy without him. Rest in peace, Robin Williams, you have our sympathy, and our love.
Filed under: Blog & Literature/Theatre/Art
June 28th, 2014 → 7:05 am
“More are men’s ends marked than their lives before.
The setting sun, and music at the close,
As the last taste of sweets, is sweetest last,
Writ in remembrance more than things long past.” – Richard II
100 years ago today Archduke Francis Ferdinand was assassinated, and the world slid into its first World War. It is humbling to look back on it now; the horror, the uninevitability of it, the profound waste. There is a world that existed before June 28, 1914, and a rather different world that was borne after it.
Filed under: Blog & Economics/Money & Literature/Theatre/Art & Other & Politics/Politicians & Stupid/Evil People