One of the reasons why I love working at Weinberg Library is because it gives me the opportunity to hear some of the great speakers the University attracts. On Wednesday, November 17th, Barry Edelstein spoke about his Broadway production of Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice starring Al Pacino as Shylock. Edelstein discussed whether or not the play is antisemitic. He claimed that it depends on the context and the interpreter; and he highly recommended two books which are in the Weinberg Library collection: Shakespeare and the Jews by James Shapiro (PR2825 .S44 1996) and John Gross’ Shylock : a legend and its legacy (PR2825 .G76 1992) . His hopeful conclusion was that time passes, and that human society grows, “we know what hatred costs and we can put an end to it”, and “hatred destroys; staging it-heals.”
One Reply to “Edelstein on Shakespeare”
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Edelstein’s statement, “hatred destroys; staging it-heals,” is brilliant. I 100% agree with him. Only by telling our stories, the good, the bad and the ugly, can we see them for what they are, heal and grow. Sounds like it was a fantastic lecture.