World Book and Copyright Day: Authors pick out Shakespearean titles

Considering that historically books have been the most powerful factor in the dissemination of knowledge and the most effective means of preserving itrdquo April 23 was proclaimed World Book and Copyright Day by UNESCO in 1995Miguel de CervantesThis date was decided upon because it marked the death anniversaries of three prominent literary figures Miguel de Cervantes Inca Garcilaso de la Vega and The Bard himself William Shakespeare Four writers from Mumbai share Shakespearean titles that best reflect the times or those they would like to revisitInca Garcilaso de la VegaJerry Pinto would like to revisit Hamlet and Titus AndronicusWhen I joined college and bumped into a whole lot of ICSE students who had read a whole Shakespeare play I was determined to read all of Shakespearersquos work And over a summer I settled in with the family collected and read the plays I was bored until my mother found out what I was doing and said ldquoThose are plays silly they wonrsquot work unless you read them aloudrdquoThat evening we began to read Hamlet and the play opened itself out to all of us It was magic and I should like to go back to it now and see what new layers it will reveal But alas two of the four voices are gone I remember clearly my father doing lsquoMine offence is rank it smells unto heavenIt hath the primal eldest curse uponrsquotA brotherrsquos murtherrsquo Equally I would like to go back to Titus Andronicus but only because I have a gruesome memory of how a child is killed and baked into a meat dish and fed to his fatherRehana Munir recommends King LearFrom a loaded premise mdash a king punishing a daughter who refuses to indulge his megalomania mdash King Lear launches into an exploration of both political and psychological themes with deep humanism and empathy ldquoWho is it that can tell me who I amrdquo asks the tragic hero stripped not just of glory but even the most basic cloak of selfknowledge ldquoLearrsquos shadowrdquo replies the Fool holding a mirror to human folly and its fateful consequencesAnukrti Upadhyay would like to revisit A Midsummer Nightrsquos DreamIn this time of tragic chaos I want to escape into the fantastical confusion of A Midsummer Nightrsquos Dream When newspapers are full of callous politicians holding rallies and permitting religious festivities in the time of pandemic and social media flooded with hapless citizens seeking help the enchanted woodlands of Shakespearersquos comedy with its cast of tender lovers blundering playactors and the estranged fairy couple and their sprite bent upon all sorts of mischief gives a moment of respite a chance to regain a semblance of sanity This is one of the magical things that literature does mdash preserves our sanity in times too terrible to comprehend or endure The insane plot of the Dream is an antidote to the unbearable happenings around usMurzban F Shroff recommends HamletThe Shakespearean play that exquisitely captures the mood of the moment the weight of our current circumstances is ndash without doubt mdash Hamlet Who among us has not felt a sense of personal despair ldquoThe time is out of jointO cursed spiteThat I was ever born to set it rightrdquo Who among us has not felt a sense of national regret ldquoSomething is rotten in the state of Denmarkrdquo Imprisoned in our homes have we not woken up to the futility of material accumulation and to human systems that have failed us ldquoO God God How weary stale flat and unprofitable seem to me all the uses of the worldrdquo Ruminating on the vagaries of fate the bard presciently reassures us ldquoOur wills and fates do so contrary runThat our devices still our overthrownrdquo Shakespeare as always is the immortal trueteller cautioning us to the ldquoheartache and thousand natural shocks that the flesh is heir tordquo1995The year World Book and Copyright Day came to be