The cream of Atlas gathered once more in Room C to consider Wilde’s frothy comedy, The Importance of Being Earnest.  Earnest, or was it Algy, or Jack, was much more companionable than the decadent Dorian Gray.  Algy’s talk about the business of marriage, and Lady Bracknell’s insistence on short engagements led to a discussion on pre-nups and the time needed to choose flowers for a wedding – two years in Camila’s estimation.

Our literary week continued into Friday with Abdullah’s film choice, The Merchant of Venice, with Al Pacino as the Jewish moneylender, Shylock.  That Shylock initially misses his stolen money more than his runaway daughter does not diminish the power of his great rhetorical response to those racist Venetians who would persecute him because he is a Jew:

“I am a Jew.  Hath not a Jew eyes?  hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions?  fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, heal’d by the same means, warm’d and cool’d by the same winter and summer, as a Christian is.  If you prick us, do we not bleed?  if you tickle us do we not laugh?”  (Act 3, Scene 1)

I can’t go on without mentioning the wonderful comment left by Aline.  Hopefully, we’ll have plenty more opportunities to get to know the well-written streets of Dublin.

So, next week it’s on to the Clontarf-born Bram Stoker and one of the world’s most famous fictional creations, Dracula.  Click the link below to read a review of the book from today’s Observer newspaper.  There are no materials to read before class but plenty of online resources to check out before Wednesday.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/apr/17/bram-stoker-dracula-review-classics