[DOC] Legendary Locals of Norco by Kevin Bash at Arts-Photography

Review

13 of 29 people found the following review helpful. Chalk up one more take on the BardBy Matt HetlingThis book offers up an in-depth scholarly analysis of all of the mother figures in Shakespeares early works-both those who appear in the play and those whose absence gives us cause to pause.Ademan points out; and makes much hay of the fact; that Shakespeare began writing his great tragedies simultaneously with the introduction of the first fully imagined mother- character.Personally; I find it difficult to make the intuitive leaps that Adelman has made in drawing conslusions about Shakespeares "troubled meditation on infantile helplessness." I find that Shakespeares work is just so amazingly complex; and the body of work is so large; that an enterprising scholar can read just about anything into it.People have written extensively on Shakespeare and how he anticipated Freuds theories; feminism; major issues within catholicism; even communism and capitalism. Its hard for me to become overly sympathetic with any of these views; and Adelmans book; while well-written (if a bit abstruse); is no exception.Shakespeare has written about life; grounding it in realism and also elevating it to an entity of great meaning. Anyone who so finely articulates the human condition can and will be open to a variety of specialized interpretations; as well as the opposite interpretations.I think that books like this one are valuable; in that they identify a viewpoint that can be expressed and studied within the context of Shakespeares work. But the final word on Shakespeare has to be much broader in scope; and I would urge all but the most serious scholars to beware the tunnel vision that this type of undertaking can inadvertently create.Did Shakespeare have strong views on motherhood; and can we extrapolate to speculate on his own relationship with his mother? Perhaps. But we wont ever really know for sure; and that might be a good thing.