“Who Really Wrote Othello?” link roundup

I’ve been busy finishing up the semester . So for the enjoyment of my readers here is a link round-up until I can get back to our regularly scheduled program:

Supreme Court officially declares Shakespeare many not have written his own works after all. Or at least a single justice is making the argument anyway. This is an old scholarly debate with little merit in my opinion. The comments are rather amusing, though. I love the way people transform a scholarly issue into a political mudslinging contest.

Archaeologists believe they have found the tomb of famed lover Marc Antony and Cleopatra.  Famous historical figures who the artist formerly known as Shakespeare once wrote about. Read a history book if you don’t know why this would be an awesome discovery.

Herman Melville’s Mardi was written by Herman Melville. But maybe it was really Shakespeare who wrote Mardi and Herman Melville who wrote Hamlet!

Ancient Canaanite King may have been a woman. The more I study Ancient history, literature, and culture the more I believe we make a lot of false assumptions about the Ancient world.

Possible First Sites Israelites created when Entering Israel. This is an important discovery because the earliest history of the Ancient Israelites is a complete mystery outside of Biblical Sources. This discovery may shed some light.

 The Dead Sea Scrolls were apparently stolen from Palestinians in 1967. You know, for all the legitimate complaints Palestinians have it always amazes me that they need to bolster their gripes with silly nonsense. The post covers why this is silly nonsense.

The 2nd annual Palestine Festival of Literature. An exploration of Palestinian culture beyond the typical portrayals in Western media. It is good to see another side to Palestinian culture.

A beautiful poem that captures the dynamics of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. I love this poem. Plus we share blog names! We’re like blog soulmates, except for the fact that I’ve never commented on his blog before.

Amazon suppresses GLBT titles. As other commentators have pointed out not only is this offensive, but it’s inexplicable. I don’t get it. How could this possibly help business? I am not exactly prepared to boycott Amazon, but still . . .

Unnamed Privilege: College Education. Why do we privilege traditional education over other ways of learning? Even with a Masters in English and an almost finished second Masters in Library Science some of my best learning has come during private study, or even just hanging out and talking with friends. This provocative post reminds you not to take your college education for granted or as evidence of superiority to people who lack one. 

What Hawthorne’s Blithedale Romance and Dick’s VALIS has to Teach us about Modern “Liberal” Societies. It is hard for me to evaluate his interpretations because I have not read these two particular books, but I thought the essay made some interesting points about what these books can tell us about modern society from a Right-Wingish perspective.

 Ten Best Episodes of Drunkenness in Literature. I am waiting for the list that documents the ten Best Coffee Breaks in literature. 

Can and should a Christian write Erotic Literature? I don’t know I am not a Christian. What do you think?

 Racist literature – or teaching? Does the presentation of a book matter just as much as what a book has to say? Can a reader’s own experiences influence how they interpret a book even at the expense of a book’s “intended” message?

Interesting Asian history and literature recommendations. I don’t know a lot about Asian literature or history, at least, by my own standards. Extremely heavy on Korean recommendations, which is good because other than a little stint doing Tae Kwon Do when I was eight I honestly do not know much about Korea either.

Blogger rips apart Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged. Well, the author does have a few nice things to say about the book. You know one of these days I will actually have to read it for myself. I did like We, the Living and Anthem back in the day.

Prominent Literary critic Ted Gioia rethinks literary Canons to include speculative fiction. You mean Sci-fi and fantasy can be teh literaturez? Same old silly existential battle still being fought by the same old silly people.

Daisy Bond captures a lot of what has frustrated me about the New Atheism. I have had a lot of debates with atheists on LitNetwork and other internet spaces. This essday captures exactly why I find those conversations so frustrating. I wrote my own essay about it here.

 

The Argumentative Indian writes a poem about the Ghosts of Literature. I wish I could honestly say I was able to follow all of the allusions, but I couldn’t. I guess I need to read more!

Pat review’s China Mieville’s upcoming novel The City and the City. I have only ever read Perdido Street Station and Mieville’s short story collection. One of these days I will have to sit down and read through Mieville’s entire oeuvre.

The Literature of the Middle-ages Needs More Aliens. Everyone knows that any story can be made better with aliens and ninjas and tang.

Cicero’s polemic against Marc Antony. You know, as I finish up my Reading Plan on the Greeks, I honestly am just not that jazzed about beginning the Romans. This post is making me reconsider. Although J.D. failed to mention that it was really Shakespeare who wrote this work, and it was actually Cicero who wrote The Tempest.

A Personal Story Relating to the Events of Neil Gaiman’s Sandman Graphic Novels. I’ve read the first two graphic novels, but have failed to read the rest. More books I have to read! I am making it sound like it is a punishment or something.