When I was in my teens, I studied
Shakespeare with a teacher who read Hamlet to us, relished the monologue and as
she read the words pronounced them “trippingly on her tongue.” This probably
encouraged my love of words.
Words and how they’re used may shape,
enlighten, or defame. Influence elections. Judge human frailties. Prod, push and urge fanaticism. Cause one
nation to fight another. Incite murder. Words are debated, memorized, and changed
as they pass from one generation to the next. Whispered, sung, and shouted.
Sighed over and repeated when chosen to encourage love or lust. Thought about
and constantly rewritten when used in fables, stories, plays, histories and
religious texts.
The
Torah: The Five Books of Moses that Christians call The Old Testament is studied by Jews and Christians today. The New Testament is read by the
faithful in many interpretations throughout the world—the King James Bible, from the year1611, one of the most popular. The Koran, the sacred text of Islam is
believed to contain the revelations made by Allah to Mohammed.
Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of the Species explained the evolutionary process.
Controversy followed and is still debated because it disagreed with the literal
interpretation of the Book of Genesis
in the Bible.
Democracy, Capitalism, Socialism and Communism have many roots: The Republic written in 380 BC by Plato,
Thomas Paine’s The Rights of Man, and
On Liberty by John Stuart Mill, The Declaration of Independence and The Constitution. The Communist Manifesto
written by Karl Marx brought about changes in government in many parts of the
world. The words in these documents all reverberate in our day.
Jacob Riis wrote How the Other Half Lives bringing attention to the poor in the United
States. Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique and the Second
Sex by Simone De Beauvoir changed the lives of women. Harriet Beecher
Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl written
by Harriet A. Jacobs under a pseudonym and The
Narrative of Frederick Douglass focused on the lives of enslaved African
Americans and led to the unforgettable words of Martin Luther King. The Jungle by Upton Sinclair—a novelist
and social reformer—exposed the horrors of the Chicago meat packing industries
and Silent Spring by Rachel Carson
alerted the public to the dangers of environmental pollution.
Shakespeare’s plays influenced our view of
history and are still selling tickets today. (Personal note: When I saw Henry the Fifth at the Globe Theatre in London,
I found myself enthusiastically cheering for the English before the realization
struck—I was an American and should have been cheering for the French who
helped during our revolution.)
Examine the ancient history of enemy
warfare and learn about the first documented manuscript, titled The Art
of War, written in 400 BC, by Sun Tzu, a Chinese military strategist and
philosopher who advised the use of deception as an instrument of conflict. The
book includes a chapter on counter-intelligence. “All war,” Sun Tzu wrote, “is
based on deception.” Sound familiar?
In the play Amadeus, the author Peter Shaffer, accuses Antonio Salieri, a court
musician—who taught Beethoven Liszt and Schubert—of jealousy leading to the
murder of Mozart. Didn’t happen but the power of Shaffer’s words persuaded many
in the audience. John Patrick Shanley’s Doubt,
a play about a priest who is suspected by a nun of molesting a child led to
discussion by playgoers that sometimes lasted for days. Did he or didn’t he? The
argument goes on.
By the end of a narrative—document,
biography, history, fiction—no matter the genre, a connection between the
writer and reader will encourage conversations with others about motivations,
the truth of what has been written, and what the story means to them—each takes
something different away from the page. We may not write a book that will last
through the ages, we may not become a 21st century Jane Austin or Charles
Dickens but we can write books that will bring enjoyment, discovery, escape and
the hunger for another manuscript.
Bests,
Elise
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