For the last few days I have been busy installing and fussing around with the new version of Ubuntu Linux, the operating system I use. Sometimes I wonder why I bother with it, but at least, in the end, I managed to un-break my computer (again).
I did manage to get a little reading done, namely book two of the Aeneid and Twelfth Night. I want to finish the former by the end of the month, of course, and I am going to see a performance of Twelfth Night on Sunday so I want to read the play first. I am starting to get into it -- it is Shakespeare -- but I have a stinking suspicion that Shakespearean comedies have lost most of their gusto during the last few centuries. Most of his jokes have to be explained, then they are much less funny and it throws off the whole flow of the play. Many times while reading, I could almost see the wry smiles on the character's faces -- I know it is funny but I do not know why. Just another way Shakespeare makes children of us all.
I also suspect that Shakespeare was not a masterful comedian, even in his own day -- and yes, those grapes probably are sour.
But, but, this is the first of his comedies that I have read (and I'm not even finished), so allow me to zip up my tongue for now, and blab it away a few months from now.
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