SHAKESPEARE DURING THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR
A Free Talk, part of our ongoing lecture series!
- Sunday, July 7th at 2:00 pm
- Mission Valley Library
2123 Fenton Pkwy, San Diego, CA 92108 (click for map)
Join us as Gordon Gidlund, amateur historian, provides a survey of the Shakespearean influences during this critical period in our history.
During the Civil War, familiarity with Shakespeare’s works was considered essential to an educated person’s cultural literacy, both North and South. References to the plays and sonnets appear in soldiers’ letters home, in politicians’ speeches, and in newspaper cartoons.
Perhaps the most dramatic illustration of this state of affairs is the fascination that Abraham Lincoln had for the Bard, often giving impromptu recitals from memory. But the tragic side of the coin was that he was killed by a noted Shakespearean actor.
Gordon Gidlund, Vice President of the Board, Director of Membership, and author of the Mock Trials. A practicing attorney with the IRS Office of Chief Counsel since 1984 and an adjunct professor at the University of San Diego School of Law since 1999, Mr. Gidlund is concerned with the intersection of Shakespeare and the law. He served as a Peace Corps Volunteer teaching English in the Republic of Korea. As a yeoman, he has had long associations with the Boy Scouts, the Red Cross, St. Andrew’s Lutheran Church, and the local Civil War Round Table. He has a B.A. from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and a J.D. from the University of Minnesota.
This program is neither sponsored nor endorsed by the San Diego Public Library. The Library is not responsible for the information presented in this program.
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