Hello hello, Corelings! What, did you think the Weekly Round-Up would be on hiatus during this hibernation period we call Winter Break? Of course not. Knowledge never rests.
- Christopher Wordsworth, the great-great-great-great grandson of William Wordsworth, is currently campaigning to protect the Lake District that inspired the Romantic poet. The National Grid plans to build a line of electrical pylons through Duddon Estuary.
- I, Hamlet, a retelling of Hamlet as a traditional Chinese opera, opened December 16th at UK’s South Bank Center. It commemorates the 400th anniversaries of the deaths of both Shakespeare and Tang Xianzu, a Ming dynasty playwright.
- Did you know that mistletoe has roots in Virgil’s The Golden Bough from the Aeneid? Vogue sheds light on this holiday tradition.
Aeneas and Charon by Wenceslas Hollar, 17th century.
- Translator Tim Parks reveals the difficulties of translating Machiavelli’s The Prince as well as the tactics that others use as they tackle the 15th-century Italian work.
- Voltaire’s Candide hit the stage last week with a performance at Norwich Theatre Royal by the Theatre Royal’s Youth Company. This interpretation may not be what you think; it’s described as “a bit of a mockery of his philosophy” — “in the most respectful way, of course!”
- Uplifting news of the week: the book fairy is real, and they gifted a Montreal woman a 1st-edition copy of Virginia Woolf’s Three Guineas.
First edition cover of Virginia Woolf’s Three Guineas (Fair Use)
There you have it! Core hopes you have a lovely holiday(s) and a refreshing break!
