Something to think about next time you’re editing your own work.
This week on waggish.org:
Pick a work of literature or philosophy (or poetry, for that matter), and a sentence from that work that, if the sentence had been excluded from the work, would have made the greatest difference in the work’s interpretation/reception/history in the following years.
My pick?
“To be or not to be.”–William Shakespeare
Actually – it wouldn’t make much difference – most of the play is doubled up (including the ideas of this over-rated and much misunderstood speech).
Hamlet as an icon is so 19th century: You need to move on to Lear.
Haven’t been called last century since 2001….Hamlet’s still my pick for this. However, Lear IS a good alternative given the current political climate.
Thanks for the comment.
R