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Culture Watch

And Consider This

My Father Had a Daughter:
Judith Shakespeare's Tale
by Grace Tiffany, Berkley Books, 292 pp

Those of us who have read other novels about William Shakespeare may approach this book with some caution. Certainly this reviewer did. Ms. Tiffany's work, however, delivered a delightful surprise. The historical details ring true, and the characters are lively and interesting. The author gives us a plausible and sympathetic Anne Hathaway, Shakespeare's wife (a good bit older than he) who functioned as a single parent while her husband wrote, produced and acted in his plays in London. Their children were Susannah, the eldest, followed by twins Judith and Hamnet. Their existence is historical fact, but Ms. Tiffany breathes life into them.

Ms. Tiffany is a professor of English Literature at Western Michigan University, and her scholarship concerning the Elizabethan theatre is sound and detailed. So is her understanding of a fact often overlooked: the work of a playwright is just that: work. Shakespeare, as seen through the eyes of his twins, Judith and Hamnet, is a remote father who is rarely home. In their earliest years, they refer to him as "The Scribbler," because when he comes home during Lent (when London theatres are closed), he shuts himself up and works on new plays. They do not even realize that he is their father.

It is Judith who is the narrator of this book. She is a character who would easily fit into several of Shakespeare's plays: She is intelligent, bold, articulate and sympathetic. Readers will suffer with her when her twin brother drowns (historically correct) and be bemused by her take on what goes on inside a theatre (not too different from what goes on backstage today). But most importantly, they may identify with Judith as she matures from a daughter who rebels against her family and finally finds her own identity.

After Hamnet's death, Judith finds a scrap of her father's new manuscript for "Twelfth Night." It seems to her that he is mocking her family's grief. She decides to disguise herself as a boy, travel to London, and find some way to destroy the play by appearing in it and denouncing her father. Having seen and enjoyed that romp of a movie "Shakespeare In Love," I found myself groaning "not another story about a girl who disguises herself as a boy to go on stage and play a girl…" But although the disguise seems even more unlikely to succeed in this story than it did in the movie, once you've willingly suspended your disbelief, the dynamics of the book catch you up and you forget to cavil. For lovers of the Bard, it's a book that is fun to read. ·

Isaac Newton
by James Gleick, Pantheon Books, 191 pp plus notes

James Gleick, the noted author of Chaos and Genius, has given us a biography of England's greatest scientist/mathematician, but it is actually scant on the kind of information one expects to find in a biography. The sparse recounting of Newton's personal life is not the fault of the author. It can be ascribed to the ascetic life of the subject.

Newton's early life was a strange one. His father died before he was born. He inherited a "manor" that was not much but a house on a farm. When he was three, his mother remarried and moved to the next village, leaving Isaac behind to be brought up, one supposes, by tenants. After his stepfather's death, his mother moved back to the manor with her three children by the second marriage, and sent Isaac to school in another town, where he boarded with the apothecary.

Gleick paints Newton as a solitary little boy with a natural bent for mathematics and a passion for reading. He learned both Latin and Greek at an early age, and seems to have developed early-on a lifelong conviction that the knowledge of the ancients far surpassed that of his own time.

According to Gleick, Newton didn't have childhood friends. Sent to Cambridge, he didn't leave again for twenty-five years, by which time he had earned himself a lifetime professorship in mathematics. It wasn't until he was in his 40's that he traveled, and then only to London, where he finally developed some friendships, and through the offices of his friends, secured the position of Director of the Mint. This sinecure made him wealthy, and his position as President of the Royal Academy gave him a platform to publish and defend his theories.

Newton never married or, as far as anyone can tell, had a personal, physical relationship with anyone. He comes close to being defined as pure intellect. His is not a life that encourages interest in him as a warm human being.

Where Gleick must be given credit is that he has rendered Newton's contributions comprehensible to the average reader. He has vividly described the mindset of 17th and 18th century science, and demonstrated just how Newton's Principia I, II and III re-formed the way people thought about the world, and in essence created modern physics. This may not be a book whose information is readily accessible to those who struggled to get through algebra, but it certainly offers an appreciation of an elegant mind (and prickly persona), and that we can all understand.

J.S.

 

The Stranger in My Mirror and Other Reflections
by Rose Mula
iUniverse, 124 pp

If you're like me, you've thoroughly enjoyed Rose Mula's essays in SeniorWomenWeb. Now you can get a collection of these delightful musings in her new book, just published by iUniverse.

The title essay The Stranger in my Mirror was printed in Ann Landers column and millions of women identified with that little old lady who keeps sneaking into our houses and hiding in our mirrors. We all identify with Rose's shock at catching a glimpse of that wrinkly person when passing the hall mirror. How did she get in there?

There are so many more wonderful and wise reflections in this book that you will want to read when you're having a bad day. Just settle down into a bubble bath with a glass of white wine and enjoy Rose's It Was Here a Minute Ago, which I identify with so completely I thought for a minute she had been following me around. "Most people have time to watch TV, read trashy novels, meander through malls, gossip on the phone, nap, daydream," she writes "Not me. I can't indulge in such frivolous pursuits. I'm too busy looking for things I've misplaced." Or Traveling Light, about our inability to decide what to pack when we're going away. And you will see yourself in every line of How Great to See You! You Look Marvelous! about going back to your high school reunion. "What I will tell you," she says, "is that none of my classmates showed up. They sent their grandparents instead." Don't miss her guidelines to fashion in Foolish Fashion, like "Even though a new style may be "with it", you may be better off without it.

But my absolute favorite is I Remember (Il) Papa, about Rose's father, who looked just exactly like Pope John Paul II. People asked him to appear at birthday parties and he once won a contract with Celebrity Look-Alikes, although nothing really came of it. But I met Mr. Mula at Rose's house one time, and he really did look like the Pope. He was really nice too. Just like Rose.

So do yourself a favor and order a copy of this book from iUniverse and then buy copies for every woman you know. They'll thank you for it.

Mary McHugh

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