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I'm back, she said. And quite exhausted - had to get up at 4:30 am in order to catch my flight, since the airport, Keflavik, is very far from Reykjavik.
Between Reykjavik, Copenhagen and Munich, I had to the chance to catch up on some newspapers. Found the most delightful interview with Stephen Greenblatt, who is currently a fellow at a Berlin college, in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, and I simply have to translate some highlights for public benefit, tiredness be dammed. First of all, for the delight of all slashers, here's how Shakespeare in Love could have been like:
(...) I happened to be the literary advisor for "Shakespeare in Love." Marc Norman, the scriptwriter, visited me in Berkeley and told me he wanted to do something on Shakespeare, in the style of "Amadeus". The best thing I could think of was to show Shakespeare having a passionate affair with Christopher Marlowe. I had just watched the film "My Beautiful Laundrette", and besides, Marlowe has had such an interesting, colourful life. Norman just laughed: He said he hoped for money from Disney, and that meant a gay story was out of the question.
Now I did enjoy Shakespeare in Love for the fun romp it was. But just imagine! Shakespeare/Marlowe! Intense rivalry and passion mixed, plus Marlowe's involvement in the spy business ending in early tragic death! Heck, even in SiL as written Will is powerfully affected by his demise. Hey, it could have been truly tragic and come after a bitter disagreement between our two star-crossed writers. Or, with a post-modern noir twist, Will could have stopped Kit's death but wavered a bit too long since the snake of ambition told him this would remove his only true competition, the guilt thus forever haunting him. Curse it, Marc Norman, why didn't you listen - I want to see that movie!
Back to the interview. Seems Mr. Greenblatt has just been rereading Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire and sees some present-day relevance there. He also mentions that while falling, the system did continue to work for quite a while, which meant Rome even coped with leaders such as Commodus. A few lines later, he mentions Dubya. This coincidence (?) has started some weird images running through my head. (Bear with me; blame it on the long trip and the fact I hardly slept the previous night). I can't quite see Bush the Elder as Marcus Aurelius, but on the other hand, feckless son running the Empire (down), indulging in grand (bloody) spectacle and dressing up as a warrior while never actually having been a soldier...hmmm. If the analogy plays out, W. would end up assassinated by an irate American pilot.
Otoh, he would also end up being played by Joaquin Phoenix. Not fair. (On JP.)
Aside from dissing the present Fearless Leader, Greenblatt had interesting things to say about the former one:
Q: Did you ever meet Clinton?
A: Yes. I was a guest at the White House, on an evening which was devoted to poetry. Clinton had a little speech in which he mentioned that his first contact with poetry happened in school when he had to learn passages from "Macbeth" by heat. He added that this was probably not the best introduction to politics, and we all laughed. Afterwards we stood in line and when it was my turn to shake his hand, I had this strange impulse I can't quite explain. It was around the time the Lewinsky scandal became really huge, and I said: "Mr. President, don't you believe that 'Macbeth' is a great play about someone who feels drawn to do things which he knows very well to lead to a political and moral desaster?" Clinton looked at me and said: "I think 'Macbeth' is a great play about someone whose extraordinary ambition is for something which is ethically inadequate." My jaw dropped, believe me.
The odd thing is, I had a similar experience with Clinton the one time I saw him in person. My question concerned effect of power, and whether it was reconcilable to be the President of the US and a citizen of the world. In reply, he quoted Max Weber, complete with date and place of publication (Leipzig 1919, I believe), on the inevitable corruption of power.
Ending with two articles I don't have to translate: Seems Kevin Kline is about to play Falstaff (which I'd dearly love to see), and the director completely disagrees with Harold Bloom on Old Jack. More here.
And the Guardian makes its predictions about the Oscars here.
Between Reykjavik, Copenhagen and Munich, I had to the chance to catch up on some newspapers. Found the most delightful interview with Stephen Greenblatt, who is currently a fellow at a Berlin college, in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, and I simply have to translate some highlights for public benefit, tiredness be dammed. First of all, for the delight of all slashers, here's how Shakespeare in Love could have been like:
(...) I happened to be the literary advisor for "Shakespeare in Love." Marc Norman, the scriptwriter, visited me in Berkeley and told me he wanted to do something on Shakespeare, in the style of "Amadeus". The best thing I could think of was to show Shakespeare having a passionate affair with Christopher Marlowe. I had just watched the film "My Beautiful Laundrette", and besides, Marlowe has had such an interesting, colourful life. Norman just laughed: He said he hoped for money from Disney, and that meant a gay story was out of the question.
Now I did enjoy Shakespeare in Love for the fun romp it was. But just imagine! Shakespeare/Marlowe! Intense rivalry and passion mixed, plus Marlowe's involvement in the spy business ending in early tragic death! Heck, even in SiL as written Will is powerfully affected by his demise. Hey, it could have been truly tragic and come after a bitter disagreement between our two star-crossed writers. Or, with a post-modern noir twist, Will could have stopped Kit's death but wavered a bit too long since the snake of ambition told him this would remove his only true competition, the guilt thus forever haunting him. Curse it, Marc Norman, why didn't you listen - I want to see that movie!
Back to the interview. Seems Mr. Greenblatt has just been rereading Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire and sees some present-day relevance there. He also mentions that while falling, the system did continue to work for quite a while, which meant Rome even coped with leaders such as Commodus. A few lines later, he mentions Dubya. This coincidence (?) has started some weird images running through my head. (Bear with me; blame it on the long trip and the fact I hardly slept the previous night). I can't quite see Bush the Elder as Marcus Aurelius, but on the other hand, feckless son running the Empire (down), indulging in grand (bloody) spectacle and dressing up as a warrior while never actually having been a soldier...hmmm. If the analogy plays out, W. would end up assassinated by an irate American pilot.
Otoh, he would also end up being played by Joaquin Phoenix. Not fair. (On JP.)
Aside from dissing the present Fearless Leader, Greenblatt had interesting things to say about the former one:
Q: Did you ever meet Clinton?
A: Yes. I was a guest at the White House, on an evening which was devoted to poetry. Clinton had a little speech in which he mentioned that his first contact with poetry happened in school when he had to learn passages from "Macbeth" by heat. He added that this was probably not the best introduction to politics, and we all laughed. Afterwards we stood in line and when it was my turn to shake his hand, I had this strange impulse I can't quite explain. It was around the time the Lewinsky scandal became really huge, and I said: "Mr. President, don't you believe that 'Macbeth' is a great play about someone who feels drawn to do things which he knows very well to lead to a political and moral desaster?" Clinton looked at me and said: "I think 'Macbeth' is a great play about someone whose extraordinary ambition is for something which is ethically inadequate." My jaw dropped, believe me.
The odd thing is, I had a similar experience with Clinton the one time I saw him in person. My question concerned effect of power, and whether it was reconcilable to be the President of the US and a citizen of the world. In reply, he quoted Max Weber, complete with date and place of publication (Leipzig 1919, I believe), on the inevitable corruption of power.
Ending with two articles I don't have to translate: Seems Kevin Kline is about to play Falstaff (which I'd dearly love to see), and the director completely disagrees with Harold Bloom on Old Jack. More here.
And the Guardian makes its predictions about the Oscars here.
