Ira Glass: Shakespeare Sucks
facepalm
On the very bright side, Glass admits he probably can't defend that.
Being able to admit error has become even more important with the twitterfication of middlebrow discourse. Being able to admit error has always been important, thought he ability has always been rare. Now that it's easier for people to say things quickly and publicly, they will undoubtedly say stupider things. Add a 140-character limit to that, and you'll get a whole lotta bullshit. Up the percentage of error, and you up the importance of admitting error.
So...anybody think that people--especially the kind of people likely to become twits--are going to get better at admitting their mistakes?
Yeah, I didn't think so.
Anyway: Glass is way, way wrong, and props to him for (basically) admitting it.
posted by Winston Smith at
1:53 PM
2 Comments:
I don't like Shakespeare, I really don't. I've tried, but just don't. I don't like the prose, think the stories are meh (few surprises, etc.), and the few gems in the writing are not worth reading them.
I don't like the plays, and softly sigh in boredom while watching wondering what the hell I'm missing? Why is this guy so great when others, like Chaucer, intrigue me and make me want to read?
So how can anyone be way, way wrong for not liking a particular writer or artist, when it's so hard to define any individual's tastes? (probably rhetorical)
So like Glass I really can't defend it, but I can't bring myself to like Shakespeare, even after taking a course in Masteworks in college and having a professor spend a semester extolling on him.
I actually agree in large part, Aa. That is: the stories grab me way less than the writing. But I love the writing, the turns of phrase, SO. DAMN. MUCH... That's what keeps me coming back. I really am pretty indifferent to many of the stories...though I've always thought/hoped that was some degree of incomprehension on my part.
Though...Romeo and Juliette stands out as a good story, to my mind, as does the Tempest... (Speaking of which:
"I can call spirits from the vasty deep."
"Why so can I, as can any man. But will they come...?")
(Oh, that's a different thing I like: cleverness that's not just good writing in the narrow sense...)
Anyway... I feel ya on the stories, Aa.
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