I was initiated into the unique world of Shakespeare's poetry and plays in high school and, I believe like many people, though instantly smitten meandered a while before settling on my all-time favourite piece – "Hamlet." Earlier candidates had included pretty much all the other usual suspects at one point or another; but particularly so, "Romeo and Juliet" (of course), "Macbeth," "Richard II," "Richard III," "Henry V," "A Midsummer Night's Dream," "The Tempest," the "battle of the sexes" comedies ("The Taming of the Shrew," "As You Like It," "Much Ado About Nothing, "Love's Labour's Lost"), "Julius Caesar," "Antony and Cleopatra," as well as some of the sonnets. When precisely the realisation hit home with me what a truly unique piece of writing "Hamlet" is, I can no longer even tell. All I know is that it was a gradual process: for a long time I was intimidated by the play's sheer length; as well as its gutwrenching atmosphere, its – apparent – utter hopelessness, and its uncharitable stance towards its two female characters. Yet, eventually the play's unique power got through to me and firmly took hold of my brain, unmix'd with baser matter ... to the point that I have since devoted a whole other website to my humble attempts at getting into the minds of the Prince of Denmark and the remaining cast of that particular play: Project Hamlet.
But of course the Bard left us much more than this one piece, great though it may be. Therefore, and since the focus of this site (ThemisAthena.info) is so much broader than that of Project Hamlet, it is probably only apt that here I should focus on his literary and theatrical legacy as a whole – to the extent this is possible within the confines of a website like this one in the first place.
She might be without country, without nation, but inside her there was still a being that could exist and be free, that could simply say I am without adding a this, or a that, without saying I am Indian, Guyanese, English, or anything else in the world. Sharon Maas: Of Marriageable Age.
Through our maps, we willingly become a part of their boundaries. If our home is included, we feel pride, perhaps familiarity, but always a sense that this is ours. If it is not, we accept our roles as outsiders, though we may be of the same mind and culture. In this way, maps can be dangerous and powerful tools. Debbie Lee Wesselmann: Trutor and the Balloonist.
I believe in such cartography – to be marked by nature, not just label ourselves on a map like the names of rich men and women on buildings. We are communal histories, communal books. ... All I desired was to walk upon such an earth that had no maps. Michael Ondaatje: The English Patient.
Maybe your country is only a place you make up in your own mind. Something you dream about and sing about. Maybe it's not a place on the map at all, but just a story full of people you meet and places you visit, full of books and films you've been to. I'm not afraid of being homesick and having no language to live in. I don't have to be like anyone else. I'm walking on the wall and nobody can stop me. Hugo Hamilton: The Speckled People.
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