Kiss Me, Kate

Introduced by Mr Anthony

There are plays about misogyny and there are misogynistic plays. Kiss Me, Kate, premiering in 1948, was something of a hybrid. 

In placing the frame narrative of a warring theatrical couple around an adaptation of Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew, the show viewed the source material through a semi-ironic lens, with the Elizabethan marriage market and its commodification of women sent up in songs such as ‘Tom, Dick or Harry’ and ‘I’ve Come to Wive It Wealthily in Padua’. In ‘I Hate Men’, the female lead wittily condemns sexual double standards in a strikingly modern treatise on toxic masculinity. However, the same character is also beaten publicly by her ex-husband and, in a startling volte-face at the show’s climax, appears willing to subdue herself to his mastery. The programme for the original production of Kiss Me, Kate bore the image of a whip, tipping the musical’s title from playful suggestion to baleful command.

My Desert Island Book ...

4D were asked to suggest a 'desert island book' in the spirit of Desert Island Discs. These are the books they’d like to have with them if they were stranded on a desert island.

Complete Works of Harry Potter* by JK Rowling

Chosen by George Lyster: every time I read the stories, I notice something new. They remind me heavily of my childhood and would be a break from the life on a desert island.

(* Stern island by-laws might cause this suggestion to be impounded as it is not available as a single volume...)

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K Rowling

Chosen by Aadhil Ramanathan and Gauray Simha 

Aadhil: This is one of my favourite books ever, and if I was stuck, I would like to be transported to another world, one which always finishes with a happy ending. 

Gaurav: I loved this book in particular as it has a very interesting back-story. I could simply keep reading this over and over again. It’s also a major way into fantasy books.

Book of the Week

The Waste Land: A Biography of a Poem by Matthew Hollis

Recommended by Miss McLaughlin

The Waste Land, T.S Eliot’s1922 enigmatic masterpiece is a century old. Written by an American banker in the City of London, Eliot’s poem was revolutionary - full of parody and pastiche, it is famously complex and allusive. Just over 50 years ago the Berg Collection - a treasure chest of notes and annotations by the poet, his friend Ezra Pound, and his first wife, Vivien - was published, igniting interest and allowing readers to better understand the poem as a living thing. 

50 years later, Mathew Hollis’ book, The Waste Land: A Biography of a Poem furthers the idea that we should approach the poem as we would a person. The British Library suggest that the book, 'present[s] a mosaic of historical fragments, diaries, dynamic literary criticism and illuminating new research ... [Hollis] reveals the cultural and personal trauma that forged The Waste Land through the lives of its protagonists - of Ezra Pound, who edited it; of Vivien Eliot, who sustained it; and of T. S. Eliot himself, whose private torment is woven into the seams of the work.' 

Eliot and his first wife, Vivien [Photo: BBC/Oxford Films/The T S Eliot Foundation]

Eliot himself said that poem was 'only the relief of a personal and wholly insignificant grouse against life'. His chilling recollections located the core of the poem in the 'nightmare agony' of his awful marriage. On Vivien’s insistence he removed the line, 'The ivory men make company between us' as it seemed too brutal a reflection on the state of their relationship. A few years before his death, Eliot penned the poem (for the last time) to raise money for a British library and returned the line. 

This week, 4H look up at the stars and beneath their feet with reviews of a subterranean fantasy novel, and a non-fiction work of space exploration.

The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern

Recommended by Aditya Bhimalingam

The Starless Sea is focused on a boy named Zachary who at his university library finds a book, in which one of the chapters recounts an experience from his life. Understandably curious, he follows symbols in the book to an underground and mysterious library as he tries to understand why he was in the book.

The book is fiction and in the fantasy or magical realism genre. It is for people who like descriptive poetry, as there are some great descriptions in the book fit for a poem. It would also be for those who are into mild fantasy, fantasy without advanced magic systems or supernatural races, just with small traces of magic and the supernatural.  Overall, I quite enjoyed it, mainly due to its unorthodox descriptions, which are incredibly visual, illustrating the world in a way I have not seen before. Also, the main story is very well written, creating a strong main narrative. It also creates suspense between each part of the story, as each chapter flits between the story and the shorter stories in the book that Zachary took out, which slowly piece together.

Book of the Week

The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe
Recommended by John Beck

'What is it that makes a man willing to sit on top of an enormous Roman Candle… and wait for someone to light the fuse? Arrogance? Stupidity? Courage? Or, simply, that quality we call 'the right stuff?'

The Right Stuff is a fascinating non-fiction book that explores the story of the first men to ever venture into the deep unknown of space. From the rise of the legendary Chuck Yaeger to the tale of the Mercury 7 astronauts, The Right Stuff weaves the lives of these inspirational men into one captivating read.