"Sabbatical" Literature

In 1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne was employed at the Salem Custom House. At that time, even jobs like these were political appointments. So after elections, he lost his job. His wife Sophia told him this was the time to complete his dream book. She had some savings & she sold hand painted lamp shades & fire screens to pay house hold bills. She also offered him emotional support & later defended his literary legacy. The resulting book was "The Scarlet Letter", which many consider the most perfectly constructed novel. Interestingly, the prelude chapter on the Custom House runs to 50 pages whereas the main novel is less than 250 pages! 

Harper Lee was working as an airline ticket agent. Her friends, noticing her literary talent, gave her a Christmas gift in 1956, equal to her one year salary, to take time off & write whatever she wanted. The result was "To Kill A Mockingbird", a classic, also made into a famous film with Gregory Peck. The uniqueness of this book is the circumstances & central event are charged with racial & sexual overtones, but seen through the eyes of & narrated by Scout, a little girl who grows up from 6 to 9 years old during the events.

VEDANTA IN SHAKESPEARE'S PLAYS

(The references are to the Act, Scene & Line number.)

ALL IS WELL THAT ENDS WELL

Our remedies oft in ourselves do lie

Which we ascribe to heaven.(I,i,235)

A young man married

Is a man that is marred. (II,iii,315)

AS YOU LIKE IT.

O, how full of briers is this working day world! (I,iii,12).

Sweet are the uses of adversity. (II,I,12).

All the world is a stage. (II,vii,139)

Most friendship is feigning,

Most loving mere folly. (II,vii,181)

HAMLET

There are more things in heaven & earth, Horatio

Than are dreamt of in your philosophy. (I,v,166).

I say, we will have no more marriages. (III,I,156)

Give me that man, that is not passion's slave,

And I will wear him in my heart's core. (III,ii,76)

Ophelia: 'Tis brief, my lord.

Hamlet: As woman's love. (III,ii,165)

There's a divinity that shapes our ends

Rough-hew them, how we will. (V,ii,10).

HENRY VIII

Cardinal Wolsey:

Had I but served my God with half the zeal 

I served my king, He would not in mine age, 

Have left me naked to mine enemies.

(III,ii,456)

KING LEAR

How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is

To have a thankless child! (I,iv,312)

MACBETH

Life is a tale told by an idiot,

Full of sound & fury,

Signifying nothing. (V,v,17).

MEASURE FOR MEASURE

But man, proud man,

Drest in a little brief authority,

Plays such fantastic tricks before high heavens

As make the angels weep. (II,ii,117)

THE MERCHANT OF VENICE

The quality of mercy is not strained,

It is an attribute of God himself. (IV, i,184)

How far that little candle throws his beams!

So shines a good deed in a naughty world. (V,i,90)

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING

Friendship is constant in all other things,

Save in the office & affairs of love.

(II,i,184)

OTHELLO

Fathers, from hence trust not your daughter's minds

By what you see them act. (I,i,171)

THE TAMING OF THE SHREW

A woman moved, is like a fountain troubled,

Muddy, ill-seeming, thick, bereft of beauty. (V,ii,143)

Who is a "Well-Read" Person?

The first & most important requirement is a love of reading & knowledge for its own sake, i.e., for pure pleasure. This rules out at once those who read to get degrees for recognition & then employment. Even persons having a string of degrees after their name (including doctorates) can by no means be considered "well read".

One of the distinguishing marks is complete absence of dogmatism in their opinions, especially in regard to religion or politics. This is because they will have read too many different valid viewpoints, freeing them from "tunnel vision." So they will be blessed with an open mind.

Another "give away" of being well read, especially with regards to literature, is usage of idiomatic language rather than just the correct one. Each language has its own unique idiom, which brings it to life. Also use of appropriate references to support & bolster one's statements. (Also proof of being really well read!)

Even people who are not well read, now have an itch to appear so & publish their writings. Instead of writing  on a subject which they love & have abundant knowledge, they start with zero knowledge or love of the subject, but start writing anyway, gathering material on the way. This type of "writing to order" just to get recognition, turns out insipid for obvious reasons, & would be recognised at once for what it is by well read persons.