Shakespeare and George R.R. Martin Pt 2 12/12/2020

Something could be said about Stalin, I suppose. Albert Camus may have done this in The Rebel. Stalin may be both a more successful Richard III and a less successful Henry VII. If Martin has a Stalin, I say it is Cersei. Back to Richard III for its value: a warning against the evils of violent civil war creating blood simple rulers. That sense comes fullest in reading the plays in the continuum from Richard II to Richard III. By itself the play's is an antic, blood-splattered romp encased in some very impressive poetry.

I wonder if the history plays taught Shakespeare how to escape from Aristotle. They have no unity of time and place There is no banishing of violence from the stage. Instead there is action and spectacle and poetry. I do not know why Shakespeare took up the history play. It is easy to see why George R.R. Martin took up the fantasy novel.

And all this talking about writing makes me think of my own. I feel too old for what I want to do with my writing. I should just take my place under the rock approved by the federal government. I have not enough road left to learn how to drive properly. KH says my writing is better because it is no longer sloppy. He had no idea how I have to keep plugging and plugging away and still think a sentence clumsy or the whole story lightweight. I apologize now for whatever does escape to the public My only because is I wanted certain voices out of my head, the voices of those who I thought needed heard. I write eulogies. And I cannot seem capable of shutting up. Either freedom or the grave will relieve you of reading any more of my prose.

By the way, I am betting on the grave.

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