The Philosophical Optimist

              Of all the things I learned from watching the complete dramatic works of Shakespeare, no doubt one of the most interesting has been my realization that Shakespeare made a distinction in his use of language that we have since forgotten how to use, to the massive impoverishment of our capacities as both thinkers and speakers.   If you watch much of Shakespeare, it will eventually become obvious to you—even if you are a slow learner like me—that in Shakespeare’s language, “who is he?” and “what is he?” are completely separate and quite different questions.   The first is simply the request, “Please point out which of these men bears this name.”   The second requests a description of the man and his qualities.   For us, today, poor, benighted souls that we are, this distinction is lost, and we often use “Who is he?” for both of these inquiries, or for the second alone.   If we wish specifica...

  Once you are familiar enough with his work, you begin to realize that Shakespeare—like Savoir Faire—is everywhere.   You never know when he might show up.        I experienced this truth recently as I was rewatching that absolutely adorkale film from 2014, Knights of Badassdom .   This minor gem of filmmaking features Peter Dinklage, Summer Glau, Steve Zahn and Ryan Kwanten—with minor appearances by Caltech ‘s President Siebert and Bert the geologist, both from Big Bang Theory (actually, you had me at Peter Dinklage and/or Summer Glau)—in a story involving medieval live-action role play (LARP), demons, and a spellbook written by Elizabethan “mystic” John Dee.   Such a film has got to be worth watching, and indeed, rewatching.             And so there I was, rewatching this film, when I noticed something unexpected.   The setting for the action of the story is a major LARP event i...

              There’s nothing like binge-watching your favorite franchise to help you see the larger patterns in the weave, and having just recently achieved one of my more minor lifetime reading goals of absorbing all of Shakespeare by binging a large number of Shakespearean film adaptations, I find myself itching to share with someone some of my observations.   Since the day I write this is the Fourth of July, it seems appropriate to begin with observations that connect Shakespeare to us here in America, even, more specifically, us here in the American South.             It should not surprise anyone that Shakespeare’s English shares certain properties with English here in the American South, given that the history of the South begins in his lifetime.   The very first of the Colonies was, after all, Virginia, named in honor of Shakespeare’s own Queen Elizabe...