Indiana Jones robot at this one. Going by the program and not the books, Mercury was retrograde on Saturday.
Means that all the processes slow down, and there’s a larger than usual margin for error. No big deal, all part of the cycle. Getting ready for it this time, I glanced back through my library, my collection of partially read books, stuff that didn’t work, and I happened upon my copy of Harold Bloom’s \\Shakespeare – The Invention of the Human\\. Big book.
Think it was gift. I do know that I gave a hardback copy to my father, one Xmas, years ago. So I picked it up, leafed through it, then settled in. I was surprised, and I’ll have more as I go along, but it started right out as an excellent book.
It’s perfect reading for such a mercurial time. After a delightful introduction about how Shakespeare’s canon of work is a secular text that so universal, the book has started to read like a set of lecture notes from a class, explicating each play. This is good stuff. Especially good reading material considering its academic roots.
I’ve enjoyed the way the author tackled a sticky problem, \\The Taming of the Shrew\\, and pretty effectively laid to rest all the bigoted nonsense about its anti-feminist roots. Shakespeare clearly likes women more than men, and clowns more than nobles. At least, that’s how I read it. Makes good sense, too.