I know I'm rather ridiculous. Obviously, I've failed this challenge, but I still feel the need to finish it! So, when I actually have time, I have to do it! So, here I am, I have an hour before work, and I must write about none other than, William Shakespeare!
Once upon a time, after reading The Tempest and As You Like It, I thought Shakespeare rather overrated. In AP English, I studied King Lear, Richard III, and Macbeth. They are all, of course, well-written and interesting, but I just didn't see what all the fuss was about. Until I read Hamlet. Yes, Romeo and Juliet is good, and so is A Midsummer Night's Dream, but nothing tops Hamlet. I've read it many times, studied every word with my English teacher at the time, who was a complete Shakespeare genius, and bought the 4-hour Kenneth Branagh version. I am obsessed.
So, what does Shakespeare have to do with anything? He simply serves as an example of why we have to study our history. It is true that we cannot write effectively without studying other authors in our own genre, but I believe it is also true that we study the people who were considered great in our past. This doesn't just mean Shakespeare, but also Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Earnest Hemingway, and many, man others. This is, in fact, why I decided to spend the year reading nothing but classics by authors whose works are considered stepping stones to the kind of fiction we write today.
Thing brings me to my newest Blogging the Classics. I recently finished The Hound of the Baskervilles! I was very impressed by how ahead of his time Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was. I was expecting a novel that was confusing and hard to keep up with, with lots of winding dialogue and mystery that was too deep to crack. But I was very surprised and entertained by the story and by Doyle's ability to spin out an incredible piece of fiction. I will forevermore be a Sherlock Holmes fan, that is for sure.
I have nor more to say today, and I hope it won't be another month before I have the time to come back for T!
xoxo,
Vicky
