Spotlight on: Martin Bidney Book: The Usefulness Of Hippopotamus
LOGAN CRAWFORD: I'm Logan Crawford and right now on Spotlight, we're stepping into a bold modern conversation with the bard. The name of the book Shakespair set replies to the 154 sonnets of William Shakespeare. It is written by a terrific author. His name is Martin Bidney and his book is a full poetic dialogue (0:06-0:26). 154 brand new sonnets responding one by one to Shakespeare's original sequence as if it's a psychologically rich verse novel of desire, rivalry, obsession, and self-reflection. If you love Shakespeare, love poetry, or love the idea of classic art getting a fearless contemporary reply, Shakespair is a fascinating bridge between then and now (0:26-0:49). We're delighted to have this very talented author join us here today. We thank the team for helping us put him on TV today and we ask viewers like you to support authors like him by subscribing to our channel and by purchasing his amazing book. The links are below this interview. Martin, thank you so much for joining me here today.
MARTIN BIDNEY: Sure. Thank you. And here is Shakespare
LOGAN CRAWFORD: Shakespair.
MARTIN BIDNEY: You may notice that we look very much alike. Somehow my genius of a cover designer came up with a portrait of Shakespeare which would shows that we have similar hairstyles and beard styles and even shirt fashion. It's quite remarkable. The picture of me is true to life when I was 34 years old and the day before I got married. Uh where she got the Shakespeare picture, I have no idea, but I'm eternally grateful to her for it.
LOGAN CRAWFORD: Well, I think it's a great picture. It's a great side-by-side comparison. And I think you're a much more handsome fellow. That's the only difference. But uh let's talk about your book. Why did you take on the enormous challenge of replying to all 154 Shakespeare sonnets?
MARTIN BIDNEY: That's because it didn't sound like any it feel like a challenge to me. I was reading Shakespeare uh aloud in my mind as I always do and I heard a music unmatched and I'm a musician first in my life. I was for many years so enthralled with music that is playing the violin and singing that I took very little interest in poetry. It was a it took many many long years. Actually I didn't realize it fully till I was 61 uh and ready to rewire not retire that I realized that I didn't have to spend the rest of my life lecturing about poetry as I had done at the university for 35 years but could rather write my own. And uh uh when I read this I thought this is marvelous. Uh and I pictured it as a book with a uh Shakespeare on the left hand and you open up the book and there is a blank page on the right waiting for me to fill it.
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