Here is an article I wrote for this month’s St. Anthony Messenger about a man’s search over five years and three countries to find his birth mother and the nun who helped him. Magazine publishing is so interesting: you have to turn in articles six months in advance! But here it is and I get [...]
Hollywood rips off Shakespeare: Henry V & Independence Day
Today a friend posted Kenneth Branagh’s St Crispan’s Day Speech from Henry V on Facebook and I was reminded of one of Hollywood’s great rip offs of Shakespeare. Listen, compare it with Bill Pullman’s Independence Day speech from the film … enjoy! True, it’s old news, but a good example of extreme intertextuality! [...]
Rare Austen letters cause excitement
There are times when I wish I could be in New York – like to see this exhibition of Jane Austin’s letters and the handwritten manuscript Lady Susan. Article by Claire Prentice BBC News, New York A major Jane Austen exhibition, which has opened in New York, is creating a huge stir among fans and [...]
Shakespeare the Bard of Rome? or Shakespeare and the Catholic question
There was a fascinating article in AMERICA a couple of weeks ago: The Bard of Rome: Shakespeare and the Catholic Question by Kathleen Doherty Fenty of Boston College. Fenty gives a historical account of the debate about Shakespeare’s religious affiliation and brings it up to date. But what I like about her piece (and would love [...]
