tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1758815004886180861.post3532482034033394054..comments2024-03-28T08:28:36.093+01:00Comments on The Nerdstream Era: What's culture, anyway? Stefan Sassehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03504751435668017553noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1758815004886180861.post-4746125611392705412012-11-16T19:47:54.721+01:002012-11-16T19:47:54.721+01:00Thanks a lot for the praise! Today I had a convers...Thanks a lot for the praise! Today I had a conversation with a fellow teacher, giving English, and she wants her pupils to read Game of Thrones. The most modern thing I can get into German literature lessons is "The Perfume". And please, Tatort? I want things to matter ;) Stefan Sassehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03504751435668017553noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1758815004886180861.post-43155168246243532122012-11-16T19:21:59.115+01:002012-11-16T19:21:59.115+01:00I know I'm really late to the party but I real...I know I'm really late to the party but I really enjoyed this post and I think you raise some very good points here (even though I don't agree with your assesment that Goethe and Shakespeare sucked at storytelling and just for the record, I do think Shakespeare was quite popular with the masses). As a fellow German teacher who also happens to love children's book, young adult fiction and TV shows (oh, the horror) I have met my fair share of disdain by some of my fellow students and colleagues. I've also studied English and found that a much broader definition of culture was employed in this area and so I was able to study popular culture, children's literature and crime fiction on an academic level. It is high time that this approach will be taken in German literary studies as well - Proseminar Tatort, anyone?<br /><br />On a more general note: Love your blog, Stefan, I found it via Boiled Leather and I am always eagerly awaiting Sean's and your next podcast. Keep up the great work!Annanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1758815004886180861.post-31078412860408785102012-09-30T19:21:51.330+02:002012-09-30T19:21:51.330+02:00I have to admit to not really being a Shakespeare ...I have to admit to not really being a Shakespeare expert. So I can really answer to only one of your comments and assume for the rest they are true since you are most likely to have more knowledge than I do. While it may be so that the characters can be interpreted very differently, and that this is a feat in and of itself, my point that he didn't really write great characters still stands. That's not necessarily a bad thing, by no means. But it is something else than the character dramas I love, and since I'm hopelessly biased and this is a bit of a rant anyway, I exaggerated to drive the point home. :)Stefan Sassehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03504751435668017553noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1758815004886180861.post-18494965807969698232012-09-30T17:58:25.393+02:002012-09-30T17:58:25.393+02:00IMHO you really don't understand Shakespeare i...IMHO you really don't understand Shakespeare if you believe he was shamelessly pandering to the political elite. Shakespeare's attitude towards politicians was at best ambiguous. Any careful reading of his plays shows the grand politicians such as Prince Hal, Octavian, Ulysses, the Prince of Vienna etc to be a pretty cynical and hypocritical bunch. And your statement that Shakespeare created roles not characters is kind of misleading. What he created were characters that are so deep and complex that good actors can portray them in many different ways, and readers can interpret them in many different ways, but like real people, they are ultimately unknowable. You should read Harold Bloom's "Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human".Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1758815004886180861.post-25698512292230627092012-09-27T09:30:44.331+02:002012-09-27T09:30:44.331+02:00@Magda: I haven't seen it from the angle of Sh...@Magda: I haven't seen it from the angle of Shakespeare writing this stuff for the first time ever, so I apologize on that count. Never studied English literature, unfortunately. I wouldn't agree to the striking characters and fantasting plots, though, but each his own :) <br />There were great stagings of his plays for sure, especially the one in which they burned down the theatre firing a cannon salute (donnu which one it was), but somehow I doubt they ever had a mass appeal. They were popular among the elite for sure, if only because Shakespeare was shamelessly pandering to the political power players. Certainly, some of them also acknowledged the cultural worth of them, the sheer elegance of speech and dialogue etc. <br />But the discussion ultimately comes down to the same question as with the Greek dramas: is it really likely that a considerable amount of people back then was so sophisticated in taste and educated to really enjoy this stuff? In a time where many couldn't even read and write? I strongly believe that these plays were the pasttime of a really small elite. That doesn't diminish their worth and shouldn't be regarded as an argument not to talk about them in school, pray. But they certainly weren't "popular culture". Stefan Sassehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03504751435668017553noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1758815004886180861.post-9360907132100108982012-09-27T09:22:46.697+02:002012-09-27T09:22:46.697+02:00I have'nt seen at stage any Goethe or Schiller...I have'nt seen at stage any Goethe or Schiller plays (I 've read at school Werter and Faust and The Robbers), but I really like Sheakspeare plays and films based on them. They have striking characters, fantastic plots, cultural stereotypes written for the first time. But my point is - wasn't his plays popular in his times, being presented in his own theatre? <br /><br />BTW - I really liked Your essays at "The tower of the hand" and I read Your new blog with pleasure. Magdalaenahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00070500337019962140noreply@blogger.com