Emma Smith

YOUR WORTH You know the value of every article of merchandise, but if you don’t know the value of your own soul, it’s all foolishness. You’ve come to know the fortunate and the inauspicious stars, but you don’t know whether you yourself are fortunate or unlucky. This, this is the essence of all sciences— that you should know who you will be when the Day of Reckoning arrives. MATHNAWI III, 2652-2654 (translated by Kabir Helminski and Camille Helminski) The human shape is a ghost made of distraction and pain. Sometimes pure light, sometimes cruel, trying wildly to open, this image tightly held within itself. FURUZANFAR #568 (translated by John Moyne and Coleman Barks)

Wanted to share this poem by Rumi, a Persian poet from the 13th century CE. His short yet profound works have shaped Iranian/Islamic culture and influenced poetry around the world to this day. 🇮🇷

Calling Hertford College alums: today is our giving day for our new library appeal. Do contribute if you’re able #hertfordgivingday

hertford.givingday.co.uk

Absolutely thrilled to share that the book launch for #PROPHECY will be on 21 April in New York City, at 92Y, with none other than the amazing Tim Wu @superwuster.bsky.social ! Join us, either in person, or via streaming. And help me spread the word?

#books #authors

www.92ny.org/event/cariss...

Adam, I’m a fan and I get the verbal joke, but is it worth it? Isn’t this just further dehumanising?

A photograph of a play in performance: a man wearing a black military style jacket with lots of silver braid, with punky hair in a quiff and smoky black eye shadow is leaning on his elbow, fingers in his mouth, looking at a young woman who is crouching beside him on the ground. She's wearing a white shirt with a frill around the neckline, shite jeans, and trainers. She doesn't seem to be able to see him.

Helena: I am your SPANIEL Demetrius! 🙄 #MoonMad #SlowShakespeare
www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo...
Invisible Oberon (Andrew Richardson) & Helena (Boadicea Ricketts) @the-rsc.bsky.social Dream 2024, dir. Eleanor Rhode. (I propose that all S's young lovers would feel better if they packed snacks.)

Now I have a soft soft spaniel I find this line almost unbearable…

Seven daffodils sprouting from the ground in a cluster, surrounded by foliage.

Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Hapus 🌼

A photograph of a play in performance: on a white floor, a young man with dark hair is lying as if pinned to the ground by the young woman who's partly lying on top of him. She wears white shoes, a long white dress with a split up the side, long sleeves, and pink and orange splodges on the top and sleeves, and she has long straight dark hair; he wears white trousers, bare feet, and a blue shirt that looks as if it's patterned with clouds.

Helena: I can't HELP it! #MoonMad
www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo...
I've been looking forward to posting this wonderful image of two LEGENDS, in the 1970 Peter Brook Dream @the-rsc.bsky.social: Helena (Frances de la Tour), Demetrius (Ben Kingsley) & a lovely view of Sally Jacobs's costumes.

That seemed quite tangible to me!

But Measuring worth (measuringworth.com) shows a range of values - equivalent real wage = £880k, but income value = £11 million and economic share of gdp £58 million

Can I recommend the Measuring Worth site: www.measuringworth.com/calculators/.... It’s brilliant at showing how inflation is quite a conservative measure of purchasing power over time

Thanks, Emily! So good to see you!

fantastic as always @oldfortunatus.bsky.social, talking at @ihr.bsky.social on slavery and the ’invention of rare books’, who I paraphrase here: “We think that people who care about books are fundamentally good people, separate from other forms of accumulation… but I want to suggest otherwise”

A frame from a cartoon. There's a night sky with yellow stars in the background, and it's framed on all sides by dark green leaves. In the middle is a man wearing sort of Elizabethan dress, in green and yellow; his boots and sleeves and front are also made out of green leaves, and he has spiky green hair and beard.

Oberon: I have a DASTARDLY PLAN and also will now GO INVISIBLE to do some eavesdropping #MoonMad #SlowShakespeare
www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo...
In the 1992 Animated Tales Dream, Oberon (voiced by Daniel Massey) could actually become invisible, melding with the trees; a rather lovely effect.

Do you think now would be a good time to challenge them?

I’m really excited to be speaking with Prof Emma Smith @oldfortunatus.bsky.social about #Cymbeline and its ‘infinit questions of the circumstance of strange chances’ (as one c17th reader put it) on Monday 2 March!

So agree. Disgraceful.

Nothing dark, but a considerable delay - probably caused by herding cat contributors like me - I think not due until 2027/8.

English Faculty/OWC Shakespeare Webinar: Cymbeline In this free webinar, Professor Emma Smith will be discussing the new edition of Cymbeline from Oxford World's Classics.

Our English Faculty / Oxford World's Classics #Shakespeare webinars continue!

On Monday, 2 March, Prof Emma Smith @oldfortunatus.bsky.social will be joined by Dr Kim Gilchrist @kimgilchrist.bsky.social to discuss #CYMBELINE followed by Q&A.

All welcome! Free, but booking required. #booksky

No, it hasn’t ….

BBC Radio 4 - In Our Time - John Keats – How did the romantic poet produce so much brilliant work in his short lifetime? How one of the great Romantic poets produced so much in his brilliant but short life.

On John Keats, prompted by Misha’s recent programme www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/a...

Ever since he had that poem on the side of the building he’s had delusions….

Wow, Tallulah - thank you! I’d love another series - tech requirements and expectations are a bit higher than when I recorded my lectures on a phone while giving them to coughing undergrads, so I need to work out how. The Rest is Shakespeare, anyone?

Tom Fletcher: ‘I’ve become tougher to protect the idealis... On a stroll through Paris, the UN humanitarian chief talks about bearing witness to the world’s atrocities, finding humanity in the most unlikely places and his own methods for coping with the trauma he sees

Tom Fletcher: ‘I’ve become tougher to protect the idealist inside. But I cry on the plane’ bit.ly/4kQVIJp

OBS / Lincoln College research associate position!

We invite early career / grad scholars to apply to our new 2-week research associate position @lincoln.ox.ac.uk. Any interesting projects that will benefit from 2 weeks at Lincoln -- £500, accommodation and meals. Deadline 27th March

A photograph of a play in performance: dimly lit, a woman wearing a fantastical ballet-style long dress, with a blue and purple skirt and a heavily beaded bodice. A man wearing a long glittering coat has his back to the camera.

The same couple in a long shot, dimly lit.

The same couple, side by side; her bodice is covered with diamanté and sparkle, and he is wearing more cloth of gold under his glittering coat.

Titania: this is my friend's little boy, I can't give him up! #MoonMad #SlowShakespeare
www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo...
A beautiful C19 Dream @the-rsc.bsky.social 1981, dir. Ron Daniels des. Maria Björnson: Juliet Stevenson as a dark fairytale Titania, Mike Gwilym as Oberon.

In Our Time - John Keats - BBC Sounds How one of the great Romantic poets produced so much in his brilliant but short life.

Intrigued by a suggestion afterwards that Keats (if he’d lived) could have become a great novelist www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

A photograph of a play in performance. Half length, dimly lit, a woman with long dark hair is holding a small white bundle like a baby in her arms. She's wearing a dark sleeveless dress and has leaves in her hair. Beside her there's a thin upright with twining flowers and leaves around it, and there are branches silhouetted behind.

Titania: everything's just so messed up, the weather, the seasons... #MoonMad #SlowShakespeare
www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo...
Titania (Pippa Nixon), the changeling boy a babe in arms here, in the 2011 @the-rsc.bsky.social Dream, dir. Nancy Meckler, des. Katrina Lindsay.

Excited to start getting reviews about #PROPHECY! This one is a *starred* review from Publishers Weekly. "Lively and erudite, this impresses." The entire review is here: www.publishersweekly.com/9780385550970
#bookrecommendation

UK: amzn.eu/d/01SBeTh2

US: www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/759692...

Anne Hathaway speaks out👇