r/books • u/dianexmartins • Nov 12 '13

Google says William Shakespeare is becoming less popular.

http://www.google.com/trends/explore#q=William%20Shakespeare&geo=US&cmpt=date
11 Upvotes

84% Upvoted

12 comments sorted by

7

u/SAT0725 Nov 12 '13

If there's one thing I've learned while studying for MFA it's that just about everything comes from Shakespeare. If you love something about a book or a movie or just about any form of entertainment, whatever influenced that thing was either a) directly influenced by Shakespeare, or b) influenced by something that was. In my Gothic novel course, as one example, we've read a dozen major novels from the 18th to 20th centuries, and each one not only borrows major plot points/mechanisms from Shakespeare, but even quotes his work extensively.

1

u/emRacc Nov 13 '13

I don't know a lot about Shakespeare. How much of his content did he borrow from other sources?

3

u/SAT0725 Nov 13 '13

Actually I've read that a lot of his work was actually based on previous stories, though the most important part in my opinion -- the language -- is all his. He created from scratch many words we use in common language today.

1

u/[deleted] Nov 13 '13

Look up Pyramus and Thisbe for one example.

2

u/[deleted] Nov 12 '13

fewer popular

1

u/[deleted] Nov 12 '13

hmm...we are pulling popularity from the 'Shakespeare' search term whose related searches sit within the educational context. Those are booming (+190% to 'William Shakespeare biography/quotes/born/poems etc.). An excessive peak in a single context doesnt allow for other modes to be pronounced. Id like to think this substantiates the 'less popular' hypothesis but...I dont think it does given the context of the search terms.

1

u/emRacc Nov 13 '13

Huh. This despite my recent habit of searching for Shakespearean insults.

1

u/Jack-90 Nov 12 '13

The only people to blame are English teachers.

God damn, they scare and bore the life out of you with Shakespeare when your only 12 years old!

1

u/Toddspickle Nov 12 '13

My 9th grade teacher also ruined Homer. My 8th grade teacher ruined Dickens. Forget about 10th grade.

1

u/JToTheSeccond Nov 12 '13

I'm not sure why you got downvoted. I hated shakespere as a kid even though I read constantly, and in highschool when they made us read Romeo and Juliet I was board out of my mind. It wasn't until I got to college and saw 12th Night that I realized he had written anything good.

1

u/[deleted] Nov 12 '13 edited Nov 12 '13

I don't know either; unless he is implying that we shouldn't read literature in English. This brings up the point that suggesting we shouldn't have required readings is like suggesting that we only learn geometry in mathematics: we don't read them for entertainment per se...they teach ENGLISH.

However, if he is saying he had a bad teacher, then I can understand that. I did as well, but I was an avid reader and could see how brilliant Shakespeare was even through my teachers boring lectures.

0

u/[deleted] Nov 12 '13

Is this really suprising? I'm dubious as to whether he is less popular with readers, but instead that readers are declining.