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The [blog] hath not been dead, though it hath slept

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Hi all,

Some of you may recognize the title of this post as a paraphrase of a line spoken by Angelo in Act II, scene 2 of Measure for Measure. The actual quotation begins "The law hath not been dead".

I think that the title is apt, since (for various reasons) there have been no posts to this blog since October 30 and I didn't want anyone to think that there is any problem with the Oberon group.

In fact, we are very much alive!

We are having our Annual Holiday Party this Saturday, January 5, 2013 at Hogan's Restaurant in Bloomfield Hills and then have our first group meeting on January 28, 2013 at the Bloomfield Township Library. There will be more details on these events in a later post.

We should all be looking forward to a new year with several expected events and opportunities to further our knowledge of Shakespeare and his times and to promote interest in the Authorship Question.

I am already looking forward to the next Annual Joint Conference of the SOS and SF in October, 2013 (dates to be announced), which will be held in Toronto, Ontario.

A side trip to Stratford, Ontario during the Conference is being planned as well, which might give conference attendees to see a production of the play which provided the title I gave to this blog (yes, Measure for Measure). They will also be doing The Merchant of Venice at Stratford in 2013. 

Seeing these two plays together in one season is a great opportunity. They are the two plays where Shakespeare demonstrates most his knowledge of the ongoing debate (at the time the plays were written) about the relative merits of the "Law" Courts and the "Equity" Courts, i.e. the difference between strict application of the law and a more merciful attempt to apply the "spirit" of the law.

Where the author learned about these two types of jurisprudence is of course an important question in determining who he really was.

Oberon will likely be planning our own trip to Stratford during the upcoming season (maybe in July or August). Stay tuned for details on that as well.

Happy New Year to everyone!


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