WORDS, WORDS, WORDS!

     In the award-winning musical, My Fair Lady, Eliza Doolittle--discovered in Covent Garden, declares that she’s sick of words, words, words—the street urchin transformed into a lady wants to be shown not told.

      Words according to Mr. William Shakespeare should: “suit the action to the word, the word to the action…”

      Writers treasure the gift of language—the spoken sounds that led to photographic symbols used to keep accounts. No one agrees on the origin of language but agree the written word evolved through visual methods developed in diverse societies. Towards the end of the fourth millennium B.C. in southern Mesopotamia, a huge increase in population occurred. The city of Uruk, surrounded by secondary settlements outgrew all the other inhabited locations and there were many places of worship ruled by a priest-king. The temple estate’s need for accounting and allotting of revenues led to the transcribing of figures on clay tablets. A century later, word-signs were added. Proto-cuneiform writing on clay and wood are thought to have existed in Turkey and Syria—clay was inexpensive and resilient and a reed or stick used to sketch hieroglyphics into the dampened clay. Writing practices advanced in many different cultures in the Bronze Age. Sumerian cuneiform, Egyptian hieroglyphs, Chinese logographs, Mesoamerican(Olmec and Maya) and about 2,000 B.C. the first alphabetic writing by Semitic workers in the Sinai.

     The pith and stems of the Papyrus was used in ancient Egypt as writing material manufactured around the 4^th millennium B.C.E. Inexpensive and simple to produce, papyrus was insubstantial and by the 10^th century was gradually being replaced by parchment. The invention of wood-pulp paper made writing less expensive.  In 1440, Johann Gutenberg invented printing from separately cast metal types. The press transformed the way populations defined the world they lived in and spread within several decades all over Europe. The exchange of ideas and increased literacy altered society and strengthened the arising middle-class.

     The first story ever written is believed to be The Epic of Gilgamesh written on 12 clay tablets between 1500 and 1200 B.C. and discovered in King Ashurbanipal’s library in Nineveh and is still available in hardback, paperback and eBooks. There is one imprint left on clay tablets and can be read at the British Museum. 

      For us, words may be savored, generate new ideas within our books, suggest plots, belong to a character—our job is to suit the action to the word, the word to the action. Words that show the antagonist’s motivation, and the protagonist’s will to champion a righteous cause. Words that draw the reader into time, place and action and keeps them turning the page.

ON TOUR WITH WILL SHAKESPEARE

     Stepped through the magical doors of the Lincoln Center Library in New York City and into a celebration of Shakespeare’s productions—productions produced in America from colonial times through today. Through the use of broadsides, programs, engravings, photographs plus models of sets, costume designs, prompt scripts and annotated scripts—with handwriting legible and beautiful—used by the major stars of yesterday and today, the exhibition tells the story of Shakespeare in our nation. I traveled through history with Shakespeare’s words brought to life by his interpreters.

     During the Revolutionary War the Continental Army lost control of cities such as Boston, Philadelphia and New York. The British Army presented shows at the Old Southwark Theatre—comedies, melodramas and King Henry IV while at The Theatre Royal British officers used scripts they had with them or had them copied at a local print shop. Both sides used quotes from King John, Richard II, Hamlet and Macbeth that would support the cause they favored.

     Shakespeare came to America with family troupes like the Hallam-Douglas families and the American Company who played seasons in large port cities. In the 19^th Century, Actors who were into their mature years chose to play Falstaff. The year 1839, saw Falstaff performed by James M. Hackett at the Park theatre for his farewell performance. Ben De Bar played his Sir John Falstaff in Henry IV at Union Hall.

     Shakespeare was popular in the gold camps; a man might keep a treasured book of his works next to his bible and declaim a few lines for his fellow miners. Actors who specialized in melodrama and Shakespeare, authors, orators and elocutionists all played rural and western America—troupes entertained in Nevada City, Grass Valley, Rough and Ready—remote camps where the sound of a gun became as familiar as the sound of clapping. Actors gained a wealth of experience—the scarce supply of talent offered young actors like Edwin Booth the chance to move from theatre to theatre and mining camp to mining camp. The Bard of Avon came to California with the forty-niners; an estimated twenty-two of his plays were performed on its stages with Richard III the most popular. The Jenny Lind Theatre in 1850 was packed with miners who abandoned gambling and saloons to see Hamlet and King Lear. The Booths played Hamlet, Macbeth, and Othello in addition to Richard III, and in 1856 Laura Keen came to San Francisco with Coriolanus and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

     In 1849, a gory riot broke out in New York City over methods of acting in a Shakespearean play. An energetic approach was thought democratic and American while analytical technique was considered patrician and English. Infuriated by a performance of Macbeth, a mob of 10,000 converged outside the Astor Place Theatre—taunts and heckling turned to fighting. Paving stones were thrown and the New York Militia opened fire shooting into the crowd. Twenty-two people are thought to have died and one hundred and fifty injured.

     After World War II, communities all over North America developed theatre companies and festivals. Festivals have reflected social changes and practiced non-traditional casting—hiring the best performer for the role. Directors often alter the time and place of Shakespeare’s original work. Touring companies travel around cities and states reaching more and more audiences but the words remain. I believe William Shakespeare would have approved.

NATIONAL POETRY MONTH

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?

Thou art more lovely and more temperate.

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May.

And summer’s lease hath all too short a day.

     It’s National Poetry Month and time to muse about poets who wrote plays and novels. First and foremost is William Shakespeare who is thought to have trod the boards in London and written for about five years before the theaters were closed in Southwark by the Privy Council in 1592. A ruthless epidemic of the dreaded plague had struck; the council feared mayhem would erupt amongst the citizens. The council’s order was extended and the theaters did not reopen until 1594. Shakespeare joined the Lord Chamberlain’s Men changed to the King’s Men in 1603.

     By 1592, Shakespeare was well-known as the author of dramatic plays but the esteem accorded the plays went to the theatrical company. His name first appeared on the title page of Richard II and Romeo and Juliet in 1597. When the theaters closed, Shakespeare turned to writing dramatic poems such as Venus and Adonis dedicated to Henry Wriothesley, the third Earl of Southampton who became his patron, there were fifteen editions before 1640. He penned thirty plays and more than one hundred sonnets. 

     The Bronte family had writing in their DNA. Sisters Emily, Charlotte, Anne and brother Branwell all told tales, read extensively, wrote, and during childhood created a fantasy kingdom and island motivated by Branwell’s toy soldiers. Emily Bronte is best-known for Wuthering Heights, published in 1847, but her first piece is a poem titled “No coward soul is mine.”  The poem, part of collection of three poems was privately published one year earlier and written by Currer, Ellis and Acton (the male pseudonyms of the three Bronte sisters). Emily began a second novel but in 1848, she died of tuberculosis and the manuscript was destroyed.

     Thomas Hardy’s mother was responsible for his education. She favored Latin poets and French romances. He began to write poems at the age of twenty-two, enjoyed Shakespeare, art and opera but worked for an architectural firm. He met Emma Lavinia Gifford who encouraged his work and he began to believe literature was his proper calling.

     Hardy, unable to find a readership for his poetry—his first collection was published in 1898—was advised to write a novel. His first, The Poor Man and the Lady, written in 1867, was rejected by so many publishers he destroyed it. He gained an audience with Far From the Madding Crowd in 1874 and realized he could now give himself a life as a writer.

     He wrote Tess of the D’Ubervilles in1891 and Jude the Obscure in 1895 and both books with their unconventional morality shocked critics and his public in that Victorian period. His marriage suffered and it was rumored he had affairs. Hardy said he would never write another novel and began to publish several collections of poems. His novels and poems were influenced by romanticism.

     Hardy won worldwide repute and many literary friends by the close of the 19^th century, becoming president of the Society of Authors in 1909 and receiving the Order of Merit from King George V. Emma died in 1912 and Hardy, filled with regret, wrote many poems in her memory published as Poems of 1912-13. He passed on in 1928 and wanted his body interred in the same grave as Emma’s but his executor insisted he be place in Westminster Abbey’s Poet’s Corner. An agreement was reached—his heart was buried with Emma and his ashes in Poet’s Corner.

WHAT'S IN A NAME?

    

     Photo by Maximus 117 www.stockfreeimages.com

     Dickens had a way with names. Who can possibly forget Scrooge? His name is one of the most memorable in fiction. Then there’s Wilkins Micawber and Nicolas Nickleby and what about Pecksniff, Bumble and Sweedlepipe? Who can resist characters with names that conjure up irresistible stories?

     “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose

By any other name would smell as sweet.”

     Juliet told Romeo that a name is meaningless, and she loves the person who is named, “Montague,” not the name itself and not the family. But the names Romeo and Juliet live—reflections of romance and love through generation after generation. Then there is Shakespeare’s Richard III—disagreements have raged for years about this unforgettable king.

     The names given to characters in novels, stories and plays reside in the minds of readers and are borne by generations of children named after fictional characters. Think of the Bible—a perennial best seller—and names like Mary, Joseph, Ruth, John, James, David, Daniel and Matthew. How about Margaret Mitchell’s Ashley in Gone with the Wind and Lyman Frank Baum’s Dorothy in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and we look back on childhood’s Christopher Robin and Benjamin Bunny? I will never forget the first book I read as a little girl titled Wags, Tags, Rags and Obadiah—the names of dogs.

     I often use the first names of people I like or on my villain (revenge can be sweet and non-lethal,) names that history preserves or a name that fits their personalities. If a name comes with ease usually the writing does to.

     What influences the names you give to your characters?

Bests,

Elise

STIMULUS

According to my American Heritage Dictionary, the meaning of the word stimulus is—“Something causing or regarded as causing a response. Something that incites or rouses to action.” As writers we can’t wait for stimulus. We pick up a pad and pencil or sit down at our computer and begin. At the end of the day, we may tap the delete key and erase every word we wrote but when morning comes we begin again.
But sometimes an ahhah moment occurs and we jump out of bed, throw on a robe, and turn on the computer and a flow of words gushes forth like some magic waterfall. Our brains cells have been stimulated by a book, an article, a painting, music, someone we love or a stranger passed on the street.
I remember the effect stories my mother would tell me on rainy days had on me, the first time I read Edna Ferber’s Show Boat in the school library and decided to become an actress, and the love of words resulting from a class in Shakespearean plays I took at night. Touring with shows led to a love of travel and articles.
In Verona I stopped by Giuetta’s House—an idyllic setting for a lover’s tryst. Romeo’s home is at 2-4 Via Arche Scaligere behind the Della Scala cemetery but in Verona, Juliet gets top billing and the story is called Giuletta and Romeo. The houses are fiction but it doesn’t matter—visitors believe. Young girls lean over the balcony and recite, the lovelorn leave messages and the setting was used as a backdrop for a motion picture.
Verona was a crossroads with merchants coming through for centuries. The Capulets, it’s said, were hat merchants and their competitors were the Montagues. A novel, titled La Giulietta, written by Luigi da Porto, was translated into French in 1525. But it is said that da Porto adapted the story from one in a collection written by Masuccio Salernitano, a poet who lived from 1410-1475, and is the story of Mariotto and Giannozza. Others claim it is da Porto’s tragic personal story—he fell in love with Lucia Sarvognan but his uncle's relationship with her guardian doomed the romance. The Italian Renaissance had a great influence on English poetry and drama and the Italian novella became extremely popular in 16th century England. Shakespeare turned La Giulietta into a long-running play titled Romeo and Juliet, around 1595. A festival of Shakespeare’s work may be enjoyed every July and August at the Roman Theatre at Rigaste Redentore—the perfect setting in the perfect city for a production of Romeo and Juliet. Ballets, musical comedies and operas have also been influenced by the Bard’s work.
In our time, P.D. James has channeled Jane Austin with her (or their) mystery Death Comes To Pemberley. Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre inspired many future authors. The most famous is Wide Sargasso Sea, written in 1966 by Jean Rhys. The most successful novel written by Rhys and a prequel, the book tells the story of an unhappy marriage from the point of view of the first Mrs. Rochester. Many other authors have reworked the story including a 2010 novel that has Jane battling with vampires.
Who was your role model? What, where and when were you stimulated, inspired and hooked on writing?

Bests,

Elise

That is the long and short of it ...

Calling all original authors!

So how often have our heroes “played fast and loose”? Or been “hoodwinked”? Or proved to be a “tower of strength” to their partners? How often have we written a “stony-hearted villain”, or “star-crossed lovers”, or had a character “laugh themselves into stitches”?

 

We authors are all individuals and proud of our original work. But if the truth were known, and as I have a tongue in my head – we’ve all been quoting Shakespeare!

I was recently given a wall poster from the Globe Theatre gift shop in London, showing a selection of some of the phrases he’s contributed to our language. Of course, Shakespeare himself borrowed inspiration - from other plays, from popular history, and from classical tales. But his work has caught the public imagination over the centuries, and stays in our mind, with its wonderful blend of irony and ire, drama and danger, passion, humour and happy-ever-after.

Isn’t that just perfect for romantic suspense plots?!

I love Shakespeare’s plays – at least, most of them, though only my son’s (abridged) school version of Hamlet managed to keep me awake until the end :). My favourite is Twelfth Night, a delicious blend of romance, mystery, angst, humour and passion. Oh, and some cross-dressing :).

So Barry Manilow may claim to write the songs, but it was William Shakespeare who coined the phrases - he contributed more phrases and sayings to the English language than any other individual, and most of them are still in daily use.

And if you think you’ll try to track back the source of some of our most favourite phrases …?

Oh that way madness lies!

Just for fun, try this link to the BBCwebsite, where there are some very witty 60-second plot summaries of Shakespeare’s most popular plays, in tabloid-style :).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Clare London

Writing ... Man to Man

www.clarelondon.co.uk