Bernard Cornwell chose this, the anniversary of William Shakespeare's death, to announce his next novel: Fools and Mortals. It will follow young Richard Shakespeare as he tries to make his way in the acting world, dominated by his estranged older brother. Publication is set for mid-October in the U.K.
On that note, here's a little piece of fascination I found:
A linguist and a Shakespearean actor, father and son, here comment on how much of Shakespeare's wordplay is lost on modern ears, in part because pronunciation has shifted so much that puns and such are lost. They take turns reading various passages from Shakespeare (dramas and plays) to demonstrate the difference between modern English (in the Received Pronunciation) and 'Original Pronunciation'. Worth listening to if you enjoy Shakespeare.
If you're interested in Shakespeare and comedy, a favorite disc of mine is the Reduced Shakespeare Company's Complete Works of Shakespeare. A trio attempts to do Shakespeare's entire corpus, including the sonnets, in one night. Below is their run-through of Romeo and Juliet, which will give you some idea as to the tenor of it.
Today -- St. George's Day, incidentally -- starts the last week of Read of England, and it's gone fairly well, I believe. Two books are waiting to be reviewed, one of which is from my Classics Club list, and another I've been sawing away at for weeks is nigh toppled. Fifty pages to go!
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