April 23rd - "Shakespeare" Day!

Today, April 23rd 2016, is the 400th anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare, the (alleged?) playwright who gave us so many classic works of literature that our high school English teachers have no end of material for us.

As I have discussed before, the DDC number for Shakespeare is 822.33. However, do not let that fool you into thinking that all of Shakespeare's plays are the same. He wrote on an astonishing range of different topics and themes. Here are a few examples of the subjects he expounded upon:

CHASTITY
It is not politic in the commonwealth of nature to
preserve virginity. Loss of virginity is rational
increase and there was never virgin got till
virginity was first lost. That you were made of is
metal to make virgins. Virginity by being once lost
may be ten times found; by being ever kept, it is
ever lost: 'tis too cold a companion; away with 't!
- from All's Well That Ends Well


REGRET
Tut, I have done a thousand dreadful things
As willingly as one would kill a fly,
And nothing grieves me heartily indeed
But that I cannot do ten thousand more.
- from Titus Andronicus


CHIVALRY
If we are mark'd to die, we are enow
To do our country loss; and if to live,
The fewer men, the greater share of honour.
God's will! I pray thee, wish not one man more.
By Jove, I am not covetous for gold,
Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost;
It yearns me not if men my garments wear;
Such outward things dwell not in my desires:
But if it be a sin to covet honour,
I am the most offending soul alive.
- from Henry V


WORDS
O, they have lived long on the alms-basket of words. I marvel thy master hath not eaten thee for a word; for thou art not so long by the head as honorificabilitudinitatibus: thou art easier swallowed than a flap-dragon.
- from Love's Labor's Lost






HISTRIONIC APPRECIATION
And this weak and idle theme,
No more yielding but a dream,
Gentles, do not reprehend:
if you pardon, we will mend:
And, as I am an honest Puck,
If we have unearned luck
Now to 'scape the serpent's tongue,
We will make amends ere long;
Else the Puck a liar call;
So, good night unto you all.
Give me your hands, if we be friends,
And Robin shall restore amends.
- from A Midsummer Night's Dream


Happy readings!

You too can have your own Dewey Decimal Number!

When I was growing up, I was told that William Shakespeare was the only individual author to have his own Dewey Decimal Number - that is, 822.33. I have since learned that this is not quite true. There are other authors with their own DDC numbers.

(Of course, you can also argue with that statement on the grounds that William Shakespeare was not the author of all plays attributed to him, or that he was not a real person at all but simply a ghostwriting pseudonym used by a series of different authors of that time; I will not get into that here; let it suffice to say that I myself am a Stratfordian.)

There are DDC numbers for several of the Greek Dramatists: 882.1 for Aeschylus, 882.2 for Sophocles, etc. Miguel de Cervantes pretty much wrote the first modern Spanish novel, so 863.3, which is Early Spanish Fiction,  mostly belongs to him. Most of 851.1 (Early Italian Poetry) is devoted to Dante.

And so on. The DDC number for 21st Century American Fiction is 813.6; it has not been cut into subsections yet, since we do not yet have the perspective to determine which authors have been the most influential of our time. But someday you, too, might have your own DDC number.