February Syllabus
I’ll be spending the rest of the day (more or less) finishing up The Winter’s Tale on deadline. But here it is, your reading syllabus for February (and early March):
28 January – 5 February………………………………….Timon of Athens
6 February – 14 February…………………………………Pericles
15 February – 23 February……………………………….Coriolanus
24 February – 4 March………………………………………Julius Caesar
5 March – 13 March…………………………………………..Titus Andronicus
This will cover the great power plays of Greece and Rome. After that, we’ll be moving on to Italy for Othello, The Merchant of Venice and others, and in May — just in time for spring — we’ll welcome in the tempestuous lovers with the extensive Poems, Troilus & Cressida, Antony & Cleopatra and (you got it) Romeo and his sweet, sweet Juliet.
Sounds fun, don’t it? See… and I had you worried there for a second!
A Year of Shakespeare 
2010/01/27 at 3:29 pm
Oh, all right!
Timon of Athens….sheesh, indeed
2010/01/27 at 3:36 pm
I’m gonna make you EARN your Julius Caesar, lady! And Titus too!! Whatdaya want, fer cryin’ out loud…
2010/01/27 at 3:58 pm
It’s tricky because there are 38 plays in the canon and not all of them are as enticing as Othello and The Merchant of Venice.
I have to find a way of making the poison go down a little easier for you AND me if we’re gonna get through this entire year without busting a head gasket.
I still have Cymbaline, King John and others to squeeze in there somewhere in a manor we won’t mind too much. Not that they’re bad, mind. I actually haven’t even read these yet — at all.
The idea here is to create a balanced plan where we peddle up the big hills anc coast down the other side. I need no enticing for the love plays, for example. But the Henry and Richard cycles look like Mt. Everest from here.
If you can think of a better ordering, let me know. I want this to build momentum as we go and not blow a tire or break a chain. Your feedback is crucial in this… and I SO appreciate it!
2010/01/27 at 4:44 pm
Tigger hunny bun,
You are the MAN who has the guts to do Will in a year. I kid and I carry on but if I had a hat it would be off to you.
I’m going to be following you thru the swamps of all the histories moaning and groaning and carrying on…but I’ll be following YOU, Oh Bard Meister.
Remember that you are the guy who made me laugh at The Winter’s Tale.
You’re the guy who sends me to the bowels of the Tacoma Public Library System–and I GO…
What is this strange power you have over me??
2010/01/27 at 5:15 pm
That’s funny… and sweet. To show you how associative my mind is, when I read “Tacoma Public Library,” these are the lyrics that immediately popped into my mind:
I went from Phoenix, Arizona
All the way to Tacoma
Philadelphia, Atlanta, L.A.
Northern California
Where the girls are warm
So I could be with my
Sweet baby, yeah
Keep on a rocking me, baby
Keep on a rocking me, baby
Keep on a rocking me, baby
Keep on a rocking me, baby…
2010/01/27 at 5:23 pm
…its a girl, my lord,
in a flat bed Ford…
I watched Olivier’s Richard III last night. Shivery good.
…slowin’ down to take a look at meeeee…
2010/01/27 at 5:36 pm
Well, your honor, it started out as a Shakespeare Blog and then… and then this classic rock monster climbed out of the bog and took over. Hide the women and children… or make that women and children first?
Cue David Lee Roth:
Sail away, with someone’s daughter, better save the women and children first…
2010/01/27 at 5:37 pm
If you come back with Rock Lobster, it’s gonna get ugly…