"THE BARD"

.....Don't run away--I have a few words I'd like to say about William Shakespeare that won't be harmful to you. They may even liven up your conversation with your circle of friends at the next "early bird". Perhaps you are unaware of how this man from the little town of Stratford, England became a universal genius. Shakespeare died on April 23, 1616, and by the end of the 19th Century he was speaking virtually all the languages of the world. The major European languages came early--Shakespeare could be had in German, French, Spanish and Italian in the 18th Century; and then he became universally available--"Hamlet" was translated into Welsh in 1865, "Othello" could be read in Hebrew in 1874,(which I would love to read to a congregation in a synagogue as a sermon--if I were a rabbi), "Julius Caesar" was available in Japanese, and fourteen of Shakespeare's plays were translated into Hindi between 1880 and 1900. (The translation of "Hamlet" into Klingon took a little longer, appearing in 1996.)

.....In Germany, their most beloved writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe wrote in one of his essays, "The first page I read of him made me his own for the rest of my life, and as I finished the first play I stood like one who has been blind from birth being given the gift of sight by a miraculous hand." In the run-up to WWII, all English cultural products were frowned upon by authorities, and all plays written in enemy nations were banned--except for Shakespeare, who was officially considered a German author!! Well, we all know that's no longer true; we won the war. My studious, intelligent, patient readers may well ask how I know all this about Shakespeare. The fact of the matter is that I know a whole lot more. Do you think I would throw away all of my college notes? And I've taught Shakespeare with great joy for many years to the point even now when I can recite whole scenes from "Hamlet" from memory. When I say "recite", I mean that Shakespeare was never written to be read; the plays must be performed. So, if you ever decide to pick up a book with a play in it--read it aloud; except if you are at a movie.