Booknotes 5.16

A Midsummer Night’s Dream, by William Shakespeare, published 1600, play, 64 pages. A bit bonkers. Once again, Ovid shows up everywhere. (I had no idea to what degree until after I read the Metamorphoses and started recognizing the allusions in other books.) I’d forgotten, too, that Shakespeare borrowed from Pyramus and Thisbe not once but twice.

The Tempest, by William Shakespeare, published 1610, play, 66 pages. This was the Shakespeare play I’d been looking forward to the most, because I’d never read it before but had seen several references to it over the years. It did not disappoint. (Though Julius Caesar remains my favorite, I think.)

The Pursuit of Happiness: How Classical Writers on Virtue Inspired the Lives of the Founders and Defined America, by Jeffrey Rosen, published 2024, history, 382 pages. Delighted to read that many/most of those involved in the Founding were voracious readers, though in hindsight I suppose it could be more surprising that any were not. Regardless, my main goal in reading this book was to come out with a list of older books and authors I want to read next, like Cicero’s Tusculan Disputations, and I now have that list. But do I have sufficient time? Aye, there’s the rub.

Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation, by Joseph J. Ellis, published 2000, history, 418 pages. Fascinating detail into different parts of the Founding — the Hamilton v. Burr duel, the postponing of discussions about slavery, Washington’s farewell address, the troubled friendship between Jefferson and Adams, the split between the Jeffersonian and Hamiltonian views of government that still causes issues today, etc. This won the Pulitzer. Really liked it — on its own merits, not because of the award — and recommend it. And no, I didn’t read either of these last two books because of the 250th, though the timing certainly looks suspect.