The Chris Hedges Report Show with actor Eunice Wong and director David Herskovits on William Shakespeare as Oracle and their new production of Shakespeare's play Pericles
The Chris Hedges Report Show with actor Eunice Wong and director David Herskovits on William Shakespeare as Oracle and their new production of Shakespeare's play Pericles
WOW, you never stop amazing me with the insights you offer on a myriad of subjects. I am also in awe of the wonderful cohorts you have in your life. I have such deep respect for you that I once told several friends in a discussion of ethics that if there is such a thing as reincarnation that you would be Christ reincarnated for our times. I was blessed to have been born into a family whose personal ethics were the highest I have ever witnessed in my life, and sometimes I feel that I was placed with them simply to bear witness to their presence on planet Earth.
And I conclude by asseverating that were a greater than Ariel to wing down from Heaven and stand and offer me to choose which, of all the books written in the world, should be mine, I should choose— not the Odyssey not the Aeneid, not the Divine Comedy, not Paradise Lost; not Othello nor Hamlet nor Lear; but this little SHAKESPEARE’S WORKMANSHIP matter of 2,000 odd lines—The Tempest rather than Othello or than Lear.
Yes: for I can just imagine a future age of men, in which their characterization has passed into a curiosity, a pale thing of antiquity; as I can barely imagine, yet can just imagine, a world in which the murder of Desdemona, the fate of Cordelia, will be considered curiously, as brute happenings proper to a time outlived; and again, while I reverence the artist who in Othello or in Lear purges our passion, forcing us to weep for present human woe, The Tempest^ as I see it, forces diviner tears, tears for sheer beauty; with a royal sense of this world and how it passes away, with a catch at the heart of what is to come. And still the sense is royal: it is the majesty of art: “we feel that we are greater than we know”. So on the surge of our emotion, as on the surges ringing Prosperous island, is blown a spray, a mist. Actually it dwells in our eyes, bedimming them: and ^ involuntarily we would brush it away, there rides in it a rainbow; and its colours are wisdom and charity, with forgiveness, tender ruth for all men and women growing older, and perennial trust in young love.
Sir Arthur Quiller Couch. Notes On Shakespeares' Workmanship (Kindle Locations 3864-3872).
Thank you Chris. A insightful show. All of your shows, essays and speeches encompass much more than just politics; and including literature and philosophy, when discussing the pressing issues of our day, is a very "old world" way of understanding the problems that we face: old world in the very best sense of the word, in my opinion...
Wonderful show, thank you! I also enjoyed "meeting" Eunice, since I have only known her as the voice for Chris's recorded writing. Wish I could be in NY for the play, but alas, I'm in small-town Montana.
Even here, however, we have our annual Shakespeare in the Park production which is always well attended and happens to fall on my birthday in August every year. One of those random blessings that late-stage American capitalist imperialism hasn't yet destroyed. ;)
Why are all the writers you believe in white people from white areas of the world? Just asking. Have you ever studied indigenous knowledge? I don't know you, but you are always quoting this figures that got us to where we are. Do you think that a good thing?
Anyone have any advice or suggestions for reading Shakespeare on my own? Anything I wouldn’t wanna miss out on that would enrich the experience further?
Chris, Eunice, David: Would that the distance between me and thee could shrink in an instant - that I could attend your performance of Pericles in Brooklyn - but here am I in south-east Australia - and though plans are to come to NYC later this year in the autumn/fall there - not in due time for the play's staging - even if all the world is itself a stage for us mere mortals in the general. I couldn't help thinking how much I have learnt from this Master Class to-day. Many years ago as a just become teenager I read "Bottom" in a class reading of A Midsummer Night's Dream (1963); read Henry V and Julius Caesar in my high school matriculation years; later taught The Merchant of Venice, took one of my classes years later when teaching English - to a live performance of Romeo & Juliet, taught both Macbeth and Hamlet - and later Antony and Cleopatra. Back in late 1976 in the Guthrie Theater in Minneaoplis saw The Winter's Tale and in a mid-summer-eve's garden setting in the late 1990s in St John's College in Cambridge - Much Ado About Nothing. I might also mention attending a performance by the Young Elizabethan Players in Madrid in 1977 of Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. All distractions about who wrote Shakespeare's plays aside - the plays we regard as Will Shakespeare's - written/performed in those late Elizabethan/Jacobean times - do allow our human lives in all their complexities and and griefs and laughter to shine through. I think, Chris - you were so right in suggesting that in some way Freud found his insights of psychoanalysis out of his understanding of Shakespeare - that the language and aspects of both the Bible (KJV) and Shakespeare are in many ways so important to our understanding of ourselves and ways of articulating that understanding. Eunice's final section discussion of the sense of loss we all arrive at - the desire to see again (if only we could) those we have lost and did not necessarily appreciate so much while they were with us is so absolutely true. If only we could be with them again. I am thinking of a friend in another city whose son (then 39) passed away suddenly - just almost exactly a decade ago. I know the grief he and his wife have been feeling is deep - I hope to forward this discussion to him/them to know their grief is not singular to them (even though I know they don't think so) but that it is a universal - that a reading of Shakespeare may be part of the hope that I know they have - in an afterlife reunion - maybe? Thank-you all three. Jim K. (And I recognise that my familiarity with Shakespeare has scarcely skimmed the surface of his oevre!)
Since we are talking AP Classes these are the AP classes at Kamala Harris' old PUBLIC High School. How come we never visit Westmount High . I think everybody would want one.
I am me not you. I am75 and still a child learning to write. I don't understand how I learn they say I am autistic. That means in plain English How the fuck should we know. I am reading Orwell when I was 15 I actually spoke up in class and you don't understand anything about 1984 or Brave New World. I was right sixty ago and you people still don't understand.
You can't understand antisemitism and Zionism and Orwell wrote this Essay. He died in 1950. It doesn't matter what our prophets write. Has nothing changed in 80,000 years?
Words matter, getting them printed matters. Having a language that expresses your cultural ideas matter. Why so MUCH WEIGHT on these particular figures in history. Is there a history you've ignored? I suspect so.
And I conclude by asseverating that were a greater than Ariel to wing down from Heaven and stand and offer me to choose which, of all the books written in the world, should be mine, I should choose— not the Odyssey not the Aeneid, not the Divine Comedy, not Paradise Lost; not Othello nor Hamlet nor Lear; but this little SHAKESPEARE’S WORKMANSHIP matter of 2,000 odd lines—The Tempest rather than Othello or than Lear.
Yes: for I can just imagine a future age of men, in which their characterization has passed into a curiosity, a pale thing of antiquity; as I can barely imagine, yet can just imagine, a world in which the murder of Desdemona, the fate of Cordelia, will be considered curiously, as brute happenings proper to a time outlived; and again, while I reverence the artist who in Othello or in Lear purges our passion, forcing us to weep for present human woe, The Tempest^ as I see it, forces diviner tears, tears for sheer beauty; with a royal sense of this world and how it passes away, with a catch at the heart of what is to come. And still the sense is royal: it is the majesty of art: “we feel that we are greater than we know”. So on the surge of our emotion, as on the surges ringing Prosperous island, is blown a spray, a mist. Actually it dwells in our eyes, bedimming them: and ^ involuntarily we would brush it away, there rides in it a rainbow; and its colours are wisdom and charity, with forgiveness, tender ruth for all men and women growing older, and perennial trust in young love.
Sir Arthur Quiller Couch. Notes On Shakespeares' Workmanship (Kindle Locations 3864-3872).
WOW, you never stop amazing me with the insights you offer on a myriad of subjects. I am also in awe of the wonderful cohorts you have in your life. I have such deep respect for you that I once told several friends in a discussion of ethics that if there is such a thing as reincarnation that you would be Christ reincarnated for our times. I was blessed to have been born into a family whose personal ethics were the highest I have ever witnessed in my life, and sometimes I feel that I was placed with them simply to bear witness to their presence on planet Earth.
A. Quiller Couch on Shakespeare's the TEMPEST
And I conclude by asseverating that were a greater than Ariel to wing down from Heaven and stand and offer me to choose which, of all the books written in the world, should be mine, I should choose— not the Odyssey not the Aeneid, not the Divine Comedy, not Paradise Lost; not Othello nor Hamlet nor Lear; but this little SHAKESPEARE’S WORKMANSHIP matter of 2,000 odd lines—The Tempest rather than Othello or than Lear.
Yes: for I can just imagine a future age of men, in which their characterization has passed into a curiosity, a pale thing of antiquity; as I can barely imagine, yet can just imagine, a world in which the murder of Desdemona, the fate of Cordelia, will be considered curiously, as brute happenings proper to a time outlived; and again, while I reverence the artist who in Othello or in Lear purges our passion, forcing us to weep for present human woe, The Tempest^ as I see it, forces diviner tears, tears for sheer beauty; with a royal sense of this world and how it passes away, with a catch at the heart of what is to come. And still the sense is royal: it is the majesty of art: “we feel that we are greater than we know”. So on the surge of our emotion, as on the surges ringing Prosperous island, is blown a spray, a mist. Actually it dwells in our eyes, bedimming them: and ^ involuntarily we would brush it away, there rides in it a rainbow; and its colours are wisdom and charity, with forgiveness, tender ruth for all men and women growing older, and perennial trust in young love.
Sir Arthur Quiller Couch. Notes On Shakespeares' Workmanship (Kindle Locations 3864-3872).
Thank you Chris. A insightful show. All of your shows, essays and speeches encompass much more than just politics; and including literature and philosophy, when discussing the pressing issues of our day, is a very "old world" way of understanding the problems that we face: old world in the very best sense of the word, in my opinion...
Wonderful show, thank you! I also enjoyed "meeting" Eunice, since I have only known her as the voice for Chris's recorded writing. Wish I could be in NY for the play, but alas, I'm in small-town Montana.
Even here, however, we have our annual Shakespeare in the Park production which is always well attended and happens to fall on my birthday in August every year. One of those random blessings that late-stage American capitalist imperialism hasn't yet destroyed. ;)
Why are all the writers you believe in white people from white areas of the world? Just asking. Have you ever studied indigenous knowledge? I don't know you, but you are always quoting this figures that got us to where we are. Do you think that a good thing?
Anyone have any advice or suggestions for reading Shakespeare on my own? Anything I wouldn’t wanna miss out on that would enrich the experience further?
Thank you, Chris and company.
Chris, Eunice, David: Would that the distance between me and thee could shrink in an instant - that I could attend your performance of Pericles in Brooklyn - but here am I in south-east Australia - and though plans are to come to NYC later this year in the autumn/fall there - not in due time for the play's staging - even if all the world is itself a stage for us mere mortals in the general. I couldn't help thinking how much I have learnt from this Master Class to-day. Many years ago as a just become teenager I read "Bottom" in a class reading of A Midsummer Night's Dream (1963); read Henry V and Julius Caesar in my high school matriculation years; later taught The Merchant of Venice, took one of my classes years later when teaching English - to a live performance of Romeo & Juliet, taught both Macbeth and Hamlet - and later Antony and Cleopatra. Back in late 1976 in the Guthrie Theater in Minneaoplis saw The Winter's Tale and in a mid-summer-eve's garden setting in the late 1990s in St John's College in Cambridge - Much Ado About Nothing. I might also mention attending a performance by the Young Elizabethan Players in Madrid in 1977 of Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. All distractions about who wrote Shakespeare's plays aside - the plays we regard as Will Shakespeare's - written/performed in those late Elizabethan/Jacobean times - do allow our human lives in all their complexities and and griefs and laughter to shine through. I think, Chris - you were so right in suggesting that in some way Freud found his insights of psychoanalysis out of his understanding of Shakespeare - that the language and aspects of both the Bible (KJV) and Shakespeare are in many ways so important to our understanding of ourselves and ways of articulating that understanding. Eunice's final section discussion of the sense of loss we all arrive at - the desire to see again (if only we could) those we have lost and did not necessarily appreciate so much while they were with us is so absolutely true. If only we could be with them again. I am thinking of a friend in another city whose son (then 39) passed away suddenly - just almost exactly a decade ago. I know the grief he and his wife have been feeling is deep - I hope to forward this discussion to him/them to know their grief is not singular to them (even though I know they don't think so) but that it is a universal - that a reading of Shakespeare may be part of the hope that I know they have - in an afterlife reunion - maybe? Thank-you all three. Jim K. (And I recognise that my familiarity with Shakespeare has scarcely skimmed the surface of his oevre!)
Since we are talking AP Classes these are the AP classes at Kamala Harris' old PUBLIC High School. How come we never visit Westmount High . I think everybody would want one.
https://westmount.emsb.qc.ca/whs/programs/advanced-placement
I am me not you. I am75 and still a child learning to write. I don't understand how I learn they say I am autistic. That means in plain English How the fuck should we know. I am reading Orwell when I was 15 I actually spoke up in class and you don't understand anything about 1984 or Brave New World. I was right sixty ago and you people still don't understand.
You can't understand antisemitism and Zionism and Orwell wrote this Essay. He died in 1950. It doesn't matter what our prophets write. Has nothing changed in 80,000 years?
https://www.orwellfoundation.com/the-orwell-foundation/orwell/essays-and-other-works/notes-on-nationalism/
Words matter, getting them printed matters. Having a language that expresses your cultural ideas matter. Why so MUCH WEIGHT on these particular figures in history. Is there a history you've ignored? I suspect so.
A. Quiller Couch on Shakespeare's the TEMPEST
And I conclude by asseverating that were a greater than Ariel to wing down from Heaven and stand and offer me to choose which, of all the books written in the world, should be mine, I should choose— not the Odyssey not the Aeneid, not the Divine Comedy, not Paradise Lost; not Othello nor Hamlet nor Lear; but this little SHAKESPEARE’S WORKMANSHIP matter of 2,000 odd lines—The Tempest rather than Othello or than Lear.
Yes: for I can just imagine a future age of men, in which their characterization has passed into a curiosity, a pale thing of antiquity; as I can barely imagine, yet can just imagine, a world in which the murder of Desdemona, the fate of Cordelia, will be considered curiously, as brute happenings proper to a time outlived; and again, while I reverence the artist who in Othello or in Lear purges our passion, forcing us to weep for present human woe, The Tempest^ as I see it, forces diviner tears, tears for sheer beauty; with a royal sense of this world and how it passes away, with a catch at the heart of what is to come. And still the sense is royal: it is the majesty of art: “we feel that we are greater than we know”. So on the surge of our emotion, as on the surges ringing Prosperous island, is blown a spray, a mist. Actually it dwells in our eyes, bedimming them: and ^ involuntarily we would brush it away, there rides in it a rainbow; and its colours are wisdom and charity, with forgiveness, tender ruth for all men and women growing older, and perennial trust in young love.
Sir Arthur Quiller Couch. Notes On Shakespeares' Workmanship (Kindle Locations 3864-3872).