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TotallyPretentious

TotallyPretentious

Joined October 2017

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TotallyPretentious
King Lear | William Shakespeare

The oldest hath borne most; we that are young
Shall never see so much nor live so long.
- Edgar

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TotallyPretentious
The Johnson Reader | Samuel Johnson
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The stunning opening paragraph to Samuel Johnson‘s “Life of Savage;” i.e., his brief biography of Richard Savage, who was a friend of Johnson‘s and who became famous for his poetry in his day, though it is not well-regarded today.

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TotallyPretentious
Social and Psychological Bases of Ideology and System Justification | John T. Jost, Aaron C. Kay, Hulda Thorisdottir
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Pickpick

Not for the non-specialist nor the faint-hearted—both because of its technical subject matter and its price, clocking in at over $50–but a thought-provoking read at its best moments and a good reference for bloated academics such as myself.

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TotallyPretentious
Social and Psychological Bases of Ideology and System Justification | John T. Jost, Aaron C. Kay, Hulda Thorisdottir
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I have returned! I have just begun—after almost a year of it collecting dust on my shelf—this volume on political psychology with the timelessly catchy title of, “Social and Psychological Bases of Ideology and System Justification!”

DrexEdit Sounds like a real page turner! But seriously, what better book could you read to understand our current world. 7y
TotallyPretentious @DrexEdit Definitely. Both fascinating and a bit terrifying. It‘s one of the big downsides of studying political psychology! 7y
9 likes2 comments
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TotallyPretentious
Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale | William Shakespeare
Pickpick

Like others of the romances, this is a tragicomedy, with the emphasis on the tragic in the first half and the emphasis on comedy in the second half. It is quite possibly my favorite of the late romances (so far), despite the fact that I hated the famous last scene.

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TotallyPretentious
The Two Noble Kinsmen | William Shakespeare, John Fletcher
Pickpick

While only two-fifths of this play was actually written by Shakespeare, I think it is the one of his late romances by which I'm most intrigued. I think it's a fascinating commentary on the absurdity of violence for the sake of love and the stupidity of broken friendships, and in this way, more than any other of Shakespeare's plays, it mingles tragedy and comedy.

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TotallyPretentious
Henry VIII | William Shakespeare
Mehso-so

The characters in this play are pretty sterile. None of them has much of a personality or any complexity. However, the long speeches will not fail to move you, even when a despicable person like Wolsey speaks them, and they are some of Shakespeare's finest poetry. You could also say that it's a compelling portrayal of fortune's fickleness, but that seems like forcing profundity on what was clearly supposed to be a simple, enjoyable spectacle.

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TotallyPretentious
Pickpick

I thoroughly enjoyed this play. However, for me, it was not Rosalind but Jacques who was the highlight. That is a personal evaluation and not an objective assessment, because I saw a lot of myself in Jacques (and took Rosalind's jibes at him personally!). I can see how both characters would be a joy to experience on the stage, though, and can see why this play is considered one of Shakespeare's finest.

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TotallyPretentious
Love's Labours Lost | Shakespeare William
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Pickpick

This is definitely one of Shakespeare's underrated gems. Harold Bloom calls it a "feast of language," and I must agree; I found myself slowing down and trying to savor every line of it. I also enjoyed how the ending wasn't as unambiguously joyous as Shakespeare's other comedies, as several of the characters are in mourning at the play's close. Aside from that, it also features some scenes that I can tell would be hilarious on-stage or on-screen.

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TotallyPretentious
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Couldn't help but laugh out loud at this first paragraph of Arthur Goldwag's definition of liberalism!

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TotallyPretentious
Titus Andronicus | William Shakespeare
Mehso-so

It's no wonder many people don't want to believe that Shakespeare wrote this travesty of muddled character motivations and pointless gore. You can see right through how he sets up the plot simply for the maximum number of vendettas in order to ensure the maximum number of on-stage deaths. I want to believe that it's a parody of some sort, but something tells me it's just the work of a novice playwright with wobbly creative legs.

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TotallyPretentious
King John | William Shakespeare
Mehso-so

This is definitely one of Shakespeare's lesser works. Based on the ending, it appears to want to be a tragedy, but one can't help but think that King John had it coming to him, and it's nigh impossible to sympathize with him. Philip the Bastard does have some wonderful soliloquies and is a fun character, but is not enough to save this from being, thus far, my least favorite of the Bard's plays.

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TotallyPretentious
King Henry VI Part 3: Third Series | William Shakespeare, Eric Rasmussen, John D. Cox
Pickpick

So far in my experience with Shakespeare, these three plays are the closest he's come to writing a real page-turner. They combine the lyricism of a poet with the suspense of a political thriller, complete with stand-out characters. Margaret, essentially an early version of Lady Macbeth, was stunning, and it's fascinating to see the young Richard beginning to show his sociopathic tendencies that would be so uncomfortably fun to see in Richard III.

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TotallyPretentious
King Henry VI Part 3: Third Series | William Shakespeare, Eric Rasmussen, John D. Cox

Why, what is pomp, rule, reign, but earth and dust?
And, live we how we can, yet die we must.

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TotallyPretentious
Shakespeare | Anthony Burgess
Pickpick

This was a wonderful "speculative biography." By no means the most scholarly work, Burgess often fabricates entire scenarios based on what's plausible for the times and what details we do know. However, he is happy to let you know when he's going off on a limb, and it's so well-written that I can't help but not care much if it's one part fantasy for two parts fact. In fact, I think that's what made it so readable. Definitely recommend it.

Jess_Read_This Hello! It appears you are a fan of Shakespeare? ☺️ If you ever would like to join a small group read; a few of us Littens are reading through his work together. Currently we are reading Much Ado About Nothing and we have Hamlet up next. @readinginthedark has kindly led us through the reading schedule and we all discuss. No pressure, but thought you might be interested! Our current discussion is on the #MAANReadalong tag. 7y
TotallyPretentious I absolutely am! That sounds wonderful. I'm actually currently making my way through all of his plays. I'm on Henry VI part 2 at the moment. But on my YouTube channel, I'll be posting a video about Hamlet this week for a read-along of fifteen Shakespeare plays I'm doing there. So, I'd be happy to join you for that! 7y
Jess_Read_This @LuukashistBooks Terrific! Check @readinginthedark 's account for the schedule posting for Hamlet. 😄 Glad you can join us! 7y
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readinginthedark Perfect! I should be posting it next week while we‘re discussing the last Act of Much Ado About Nothing. 😊 I hope you don‘t mind that we go a little slowly so it doesn‘t interfere with our other reading and responsibilities, but the discussion has been fun so far! 7y
readinginthedark @Jess_Read_This Do you think we should change the hashtag for each play or pick a permanent one for the rest of them? 7y
readinginthedark Also, welcome to Litsy! This is a fun review! 😆 7y
TotallyPretentious @readinginthedark Great! This sounds like a lot of fun! 7y
11 likes7 comments
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TotallyPretentious
Shakespeare | Anthony Burgess
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Simona Welcome to Litsy 😘 7y
TotallyPretentious Thank you! 7y
shawnmooney By the way, just a friendly little mini-tutorial about this app: on Litsy, you have to tag the person in your comment for them to receive notification. The only exception is when you are adding a comment to their own post. On any other post, not originated by them, you have to specifically tag them. For example, here I will specifically tag @Simona and now she will receive notification! :-) 7y
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TotallyPretentious @shawnmooney Ah, I see! Thanks for the pointer! I tend to skip the tutorials that apps provide in favor of stumbling about and figuring them out for myself (as I did with Goodreads and the majority of the computer games I've ever played), so I appreciate your advice! 7y
RaimeyGallant Welcome to Litsy! #LitsyWelcomeWagon P.S. I just posted a screenshot of this month's #LitsyGames in case you want to play along. It's a great way to get to know the community. 7y
RaimeyGallant And here's a compilation of Litsy tips that a bunch of us put together:
http://litsy.com/p/aDJja2lMZFFY
7y
11 likes6 comments