William Shakespeare


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Having praised Dickens, Hard Times is not one of his better works. It's like someone trying to write Dickens-by-numbers.

 

And there are certainly times when Dickens can be embarrassingly sentimental and mawkish.

 

And I also don't understand why Austen is highly rated. 

 

Thackeray and Trollope aren't bad though.

 

 

But I still don't get Shakespeare.

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I have dabbled with Thomas Hardy (in the nicest possible way!) and found his works quite readable. I can’t live with George Elliot though. I could never understand the point of Shakespeare in the school curriculum. I must confess I can still quote a few of his well known passages. I can also quote from St. John’s gospel in the Bible. I think I might have learnt that whilst in detention!

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Thomas Hardy is a great favourite of mine, especially his poetry....although I know the Dalai Chulla didn't rate it.

George Eliot, yes I have to admit she isn't on my list at all. D H Lawrence's poetry is also a favourite. I have many of the Indian and Eastern metaphysical poets also but have to read them in translation. Their wisdom makes me think and I don't really have time for things that don't make me think. The Eastern poets and philosophers are, to me, much like Shakespeare. They provide answers to my questions and show me what is really important. They have much to teach and I have much to learn!

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He (or they, if his works were the product of more than one person) was/were certainly of a philosophic frame of mind. Not afraid to tackle the big questions. Not in all the plays, of course, but in much of the poetry.

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I quite enjoyed Shakespeare in school.  Working through his often almost incomprehensible verbiage was almost like learning a foreign language. I think it's a bit churlish to criticise his style. It was predominantly the style of his day, just as Chaucer's was of his.. etc.

 

I'm certainly no expert, but when you get the 'rhythm' of his stuff.. it helps... as does knowing the 'gist' oof the play beforehand..  And yes.. he certainly took on the big issues.

 

I like Dickens too.  But again.. Dickens wrote at a time when, apart from the theatre. .the only mass medium was the written word.  I always imagine someone reading Dickens.. by candle light in a house with no other distractions and a long evening to fill.... :).  Lots of what we might now see as 'excess verbiage'.. was probably 'value for money' back then.

 

Probably my fave writer is H.G.Wells.  His writing skills don't intrude.  He is just easily read, but with an endearing use of the language of the late Victorians which I relate to. Obviously, I like his ideas in Science Fiction, but also his social commentary.  Of his short stories I love 'The New Accellerator' and of his SF novels.  'Men Like Gods' is imaginative, funny, quirky and thought provoking.

 

 

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9 hours ago, DJ360 said:

Probably my fave writer is H.G.Wells.  His writing skills don't intrude.  He is just easily read, but with an endearing use of the language of the late Victorians which I relate to. Obviously, I like his ideas in Science Fiction, but also his social commentary.  Of his short stories I love 'The New Accellerator' and of his SF novels.  'Men Like Gods' is imaginative, funny, quirky and thought provoking.

 

HG Wells is certainly up your political street. 

 

For years I assumed he was a typical late-Victorian middle-class gentleman writer who turned out mainly science fiction with a few other novels as a bit of variation; he certainly looks like that in photos. I was surprised when I realised he was quite a radical left-wing socialist type, and in his day considered very unconventional and a bit of a dangerous lefty.

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1 hour ago, Cliff Ton said:

 I was surprised when I realised he was quite a radical left-wing socialist type, and in his day considered very unconventional and a bit of a dangerous lefty.

 

He was a futurist.. in that he tried to imagine what might happen if things continued as dictated by the status quo. He forsaw many aspects of what would happen in future conflicts. He was also a Utopian.. who tried to imagine 'perfect' socities.  It's a noble tradition in which he was preceded by Plato, Rousseau and many others.  Of course for him, perfect would mean anything but a dictatorship or monarchy, however benevolent. And for most of his life the UK didn't even have universal suffrage.   I'd encourage you to read 'Men Like Gods', which not only describes an alternative reality, but what happens when some of the 'great and the good' of our society set themselves into conflict with it... all quietly observed by the sort of unassuming 'everyman' Wells used in many of his books.

 

And yes, in practical terms his relationship with the real world of UK/World politics at the time would naturally be seen as socialist.. and therefore treated as a threat to the extremely uneven status quo of the times.  Sounds rather familiar I think .. ;).. though I suspect he'd value democracy and therefore be a Democratic Socialist. I can't see him having much empathy with the likes of Stalin. I'll have to see if he actually wrote on real world politics, as opposed to his allegorical tales.

 

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16 minutes ago, Jill Sparrow said:

Charles Dickens was considered likewise, in his day.

 

Of course.  Anyone who questions, challenges or describes the failings of, the status quo will be portrayed as 'dangerous' by those who stand to see their privelege, power and wealth trimmed a bit.

 

Like him or loathe him.. Corbyn was the latest victim of such simplistic propaganda.

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While we're on the subject.. What's your worst book?

 

A few years ago I set out to try to read some of the many 'classics' I'd missed along the way.  I made the mistake of starting with Moby Dick.  Ye Gods!!  what an excruciating exercise in tedium.. pointless speculation and sheer, mindnumbing descriptions of nothing happening.. frequently.  I finished it out of sheer spite.. but never again..

 

Next worse for me would be Marcus Clarke's 'For The Term of His Natural Life'.. which was imposed on me for O Level.  What were they thinking?  Truly dire.

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Worst book??? HMS Ulysses by Alistair McClean, I read about all his books in my teens and early 20's, but that one got put down after about four or five chapters with me being bored and sea sick...

 

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30 minutes ago, Cliff Ton said:

 

Have you ever tried reading Tristram Shandy ?

 

I haven't even seen the band!!  :laugh:

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31 minutes ago, Cliff Ton said:

 

Have you ever tried reading Tristram Shandy ?

 

Tried being the operative word... It's free to download from gutenberg.org if anyone feels like having a go...

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