The Ancients and Shakespeare on Time : Some Remarks on the War of Generations

113 Pages·2014·2.149 MB·English

by  Nowak, Piotr, Shakespeare, William

THE ANCIENTS AND SHAKESPEARE
ON TIME
VIBS
Volume 271
Robert Ginsberg
Founding Editor
Leonidas Donskis
Executive Editor
Associate Editors
G. John M. Abbarno Richard T. Hull
George Allan Michael Krausz
Gerhold K. Becker Olli Loukola
Raymond Angelo Belliotti Mark Letteri
Kenneth A. Bryson Vincent L. Luizzi
C. Stephen Byrum Hugh P. McDonald
Robert A. Delfino Adrianne McEvoy
Rem B. Edwards J.D. Mininger
Malcolm D. Evans Danielle Poe
Roland Faber Peter A. Redpath
Andrew Fitz-Gibbon Arleen L. F. Salles
Francesc Forn i Argimon John R. Shook
Daniel B. Gallagher Eddy Souffrant
William C. Gay Tuija Takala
Dane R. Gordon Emil Višňovský
J. Everet Green Anne Waters
Heta Aleksandra Gylling James R. Watson
Matti Häyry John R. Welch
Brian G. Henning Thomas Woods
Steven V. Hicks
a volume in
Philosophy, Literature, and Politics
PLP
Edited by Leonidas Donskis and J.D. Mininger
THE ANCIENTS AND SHAKESPEARE
ON TIME
Some Remarks on the War of Generations
Piotr Nowak
Amsterdam - New York, NY 2014
Cover illustration: Shakespeare’s Globe, London (photo © dreamstime)
Cover design: Studio Pollmann
The paper on which this book is printed meets the requirements of “ISO
9706:1994, Information and documentation - Paper for documents -
Requirements for permanence”.
ISBN: 978-90-420-3820-2
E-Book ISBN: 978-94-012-1067-6
© Editions Rodopi B.V., Amsterdam - New York, NY 2014
Printed in the Netherlands
In memoriam Krzysztof Michalski
CONTENTS
PREFACE ix
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS xi
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS xiii
INTRODUCTION 1
Part One:
THE ANCIENTS 5
ONE Senility, Youth and Justice: Some Remarks on the First Book
of The Republic 7
1. The Old Age 7
2. Justice and Money 8
3.Justice to Friends and Enemies 9
4. Enter Youth 10
5. Philosopher’s Justice 12
TWO The Last Step in The Clouds 15
1.Satire 15
2. The Old Fool and the Young Nihilist 16
3. The Last Step 22
THREE The City of Women 27
1.The Clandestine Lamp 27
2. The Feminized Men 28
3. The Female Order 29
4. “Affirmative Action” 33
5. Sexual Communism 33
viii THE ANCIENTS AND SHAKESPEARE ON TIME
Part Two:
SHAKESPEARE 37
FOUR King Lear, or the Battle of Generations 39
1. The War of Generations 39
2. Cutting the Cake 40
3. Brothers 44
4. Passion and Power 47
5. The Generational Experience 50
6. Conclusion 53
FIVE Gods and Children: Shakespeare Reads The Prince 57
1. The Virtuous Scapegoat 57
2. A False Substitute 57
3. The Limits of Power 60
3. A Puppeteer 63
4. Immorality of Oldsters 66
5. The Final Mastery 69
SIX Spelling The Tempest 75
1. Shakespearian Realism 75
2. Astrology 76
3. Portrait of a Magician 81
4. Anti-Faust 83
5. Crisis of the Republic 84
6. Abdication 87
7. Old Age in Renaissance 91
8. Prospero’s “Kenosis” 93
9. Return into Oblivion 94
WORKS CITED 97
ABOUT THE AUTHOR 103
INDEX 105
PREFACE
Unless otherwise stated, all translations from the Polish editions are made by
the author.
The references to Shakespeare indicate the act, scene and line numbers
in parentheses. References to the ancient classics indicate the line number
according to the convention generally accepted for the annotation of the given
author. Citations to The Assemblywomen indicate page number and line
numbers of the fragment quoted. Citations from the Bible refer to King James
version, stating the name of the book, chapter and verse number. The
references to the online edition of Niccolò Machiavelli’s The Prince indicate
the chapter number. Internet edition of Friedrich Nietzsche’s The Joyful
Wisdomis referenced with paragraph number.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Agnieszka Wojciechowska for
her angelic patience in correcting my incurable English. I would also like to
thank Professor Ma(cid:225)gorzata Grzegorzewska for her valuable suggestions and
for calling my attention to up-to-date Shakespeare Studies. Finally, this book
would never see the light of day without the editorial assistance of Dr. Irena
Ksi(cid:266)(cid:298)opolska who put in perfect order the somewhat chaotic first draft of the
present publication.