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Timon of Athens
Book by Nuttall, A. D.
164 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1989
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About the author
A.D. Nuttall
22 books4 followersAnthony David Nuttall was an English literary critic and academic.
Nuttall was educated at Hereford Cathedral School, Watford Grammar School for Boys and Merton College, Oxford, where he studied both Classical Moderations and English Literature. As a postgraduate he wrote a B.Litt thesis on Shakespeare's The Tempest subsequently published as Two Concepts of Allegory (1968), and considered by some to be his most original book. Nuttall first taught at Sussex University where he was successively Lecturer, Reader and Professor of English and where his students included the philosopher A.C. Grayling and the critic and biographer Robert Fraser. After a tumultuous period as Pro-Vice-Chancellor at Sussex, he moved on to New College, Oxford in 1984, eventually being elected to an Oxford chair.
His published works include studies of Shakespeare and works on the connections between philosophy and literature. Prominent among the first is Shakespeare the Thinker (2007), in which he examines the philosophical issues implicit in Shakespeare's plays, and among the second A Common Sky in which he follows through the literary repercussions of the English empiricist tradition and of the idea of solipcism. His work is characterised throughout by wide reading (especially in classical sources), common sense, a deep and broad humanity, a robust sense of humour and by occasional - and sometimes eccentric - references to popular culture (In Shakespeare the Thinker, for example, he cites the TV series "Wife Swap".) His brother Jeff Nuttall was a poet and an important figure in 1960s counterculture. To him he dedicated his book The Alternative Trinity, a study of the Gnostic tradition in English literature through Marlowe and Milton to William Blake, a poet to whom both brothers had been attracted in their youth, if in rather different ways.
From Wikipedia.
Obituaries:
The Times (UK) Online, The Guardian (UK) Online.
Nuttall was educated at Hereford Cathedral School, Watford Grammar School for Boys and Merton College, Oxford, where he studied both Classical Moderations and English Literature. As a postgraduate he wrote a B.Litt thesis on Shakespeare's The Tempest subsequently published as Two Concepts of Allegory (1968), and considered by some to be his most original book. Nuttall first taught at Sussex University where he was successively Lecturer, Reader and Professor of English and where his students included the philosopher A.C. Grayling and the critic and biographer Robert Fraser. After a tumultuous period as Pro-Vice-Chancellor at Sussex, he moved on to New College, Oxford in 1984, eventually being elected to an Oxford chair.
His published works include studies of Shakespeare and works on the connections between philosophy and literature. Prominent among the first is Shakespeare the Thinker (2007), in which he examines the philosophical issues implicit in Shakespeare's plays, and among the second A Common Sky in which he follows through the literary repercussions of the English empiricist tradition and of the idea of solipcism. His work is characterised throughout by wide reading (especially in classical sources), common sense, a deep and broad humanity, a robust sense of humour and by occasional - and sometimes eccentric - references to popular culture (In Shakespeare the Thinker, for example, he cites the TV series "Wife Swap".) His brother Jeff Nuttall was a poet and an important figure in 1960s counterculture. To him he dedicated his book The Alternative Trinity, a study of the Gnostic tradition in English literature through Marlowe and Milton to William Blake, a poet to whom both brothers had been attracted in their youth, if in rather different ways.
From Wikipedia.
Obituaries:
The Times (UK) Online, The Guardian (UK) Online.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
June 18, 2019
This is Shakespeare's least finished play, and it seems to be a first draft.
I agree with critics who suggest its being an unpolished work explains the inferior quality, rather than the suggestion that it was completed by a lesser playwright. I gather it was never performed in his lifetime - but it is still recognisably a play written by him. For all it's unfinished nature, it is far superior to works by other writers.
The play is about a fabulously rich Athenian named Timon who squanders his vast fortune on his worthless friends, is betrayed by them all when he falls into debt, and becomes a total misanthrope. He lives in a wretched life in the wilds near the sea. When digging for roots, he comes across a pot of gold. He could afford to resume his old lifestyle, but is too embittered.
Meanwhile, a war hero named Alciibaldes pleads for the life of his friend, another war hero, who has committed murder. The senators refuse his plea and banish him. He swears vengeance on Athens.
Meeting Timon in the wilderness, he accepts Timon's offer of gold to make war on Athens.
Timon and Alcibades both have reason to hate Athens and have sworn reveenge on it. Can anything stop its destruction and the killing of countless innocents?
Despite the grim nature of the story, I didn't really find it depressing after the first couple of acts. Perhaps this was because the inadmirable behavour of most of the characters almost reads like grotesque comedy. This, for instance, there is the exchange between Timon and the equally misanthropic Apemantus, who had warned Timon about his squandering his money and has come to offer him food and company. They quarrel savagely, for now Timon is seemingly hopelessly embittered:
'Apemantus: Would thou wouldst burst!
Timon: Away, thou tedious rogue, I am sorry I shall lose a sotne by thee.
Apemantus: Beast!
Timon: Slave!
Apemantus: Toad!
Timon: Rogue! Rogue! Rogue!'
He is aproached by some bandits, whom he greets casually, 'Now, thieves?'
The bandetti respond in a chorus (rather as is also described in 'Rinaldo Rinaldini') 'Soldiers,not thieves.'
He gives them money, urging them to do their worst at robbery and brutality, so that one of them remarks, 'He almost charm'd me from my profession, by persuading me to't.'
However, seemingly wholly a hater of mankind (and womankind) as he now is, Timon is touched by the loyality of his steward, who seeks him out. The steward had tried to warn him about his disappearing fortune before, and Timon would never listen.
Soon enough, Timon dies, digging himself a grave on the shore and falling into it. The returning tides cover it with sand and it is lost to view.
*Spoilers follow*
In fact, the play does end on a note of optimism, with Alcibades examplifying the end of the corrupt rule in Athens as a fresh ruler, much, as the edtior remarks, like Fortinbras in 'Hamlet'. The old senators who banished him and helped in Timon's ruin have died. When he threatens to take a terrible revenge on Athens, the new generation of senators treat with him and persuade him to behave with mercy.
With 'King Lear' I felt a sense of catharsis after the searing tragedy.
With this, as the characters are far more roughly sketched in, seeming more like sterotypes,I could not be as affected by the tragedy, but I did get a far slighter sense of catharsis from it.
I agree with critics who suggest its being an unpolished work explains the inferior quality, rather than the suggestion that it was completed by a lesser playwright. I gather it was never performed in his lifetime - but it is still recognisably a play written by him. For all it's unfinished nature, it is far superior to works by other writers.
The play is about a fabulously rich Athenian named Timon who squanders his vast fortune on his worthless friends, is betrayed by them all when he falls into debt, and becomes a total misanthrope. He lives in a wretched life in the wilds near the sea. When digging for roots, he comes across a pot of gold. He could afford to resume his old lifestyle, but is too embittered.
Meanwhile, a war hero named Alciibaldes pleads for the life of his friend, another war hero, who has committed murder. The senators refuse his plea and banish him. He swears vengeance on Athens.
Meeting Timon in the wilderness, he accepts Timon's offer of gold to make war on Athens.
Timon and Alcibades both have reason to hate Athens and have sworn reveenge on it. Can anything stop its destruction and the killing of countless innocents?
Despite the grim nature of the story, I didn't really find it depressing after the first couple of acts. Perhaps this was because the inadmirable behavour of most of the characters almost reads like grotesque comedy. This, for instance, there is the exchange between Timon and the equally misanthropic Apemantus, who had warned Timon about his squandering his money and has come to offer him food and company. They quarrel savagely, for now Timon is seemingly hopelessly embittered:
'Apemantus: Would thou wouldst burst!
Timon: Away, thou tedious rogue, I am sorry I shall lose a sotne by thee.
Apemantus: Beast!
Timon: Slave!
Apemantus: Toad!
Timon: Rogue! Rogue! Rogue!'
He is aproached by some bandits, whom he greets casually, 'Now, thieves?'
The bandetti respond in a chorus (rather as is also described in 'Rinaldo Rinaldini') 'Soldiers,not thieves.'
He gives them money, urging them to do their worst at robbery and brutality, so that one of them remarks, 'He almost charm'd me from my profession, by persuading me to't.'
However, seemingly wholly a hater of mankind (and womankind) as he now is, Timon is touched by the loyality of his steward, who seeks him out. The steward had tried to warn him about his disappearing fortune before, and Timon would never listen.
Soon enough, Timon dies, digging himself a grave on the shore and falling into it. The returning tides cover it with sand and it is lost to view.
*Spoilers follow*
In fact, the play does end on a note of optimism, with Alcibades examplifying the end of the corrupt rule in Athens as a fresh ruler, much, as the edtior remarks, like Fortinbras in 'Hamlet'. The old senators who banished him and helped in Timon's ruin have died. When he threatens to take a terrible revenge on Athens, the new generation of senators treat with him and persuade him to behave with mercy.
With 'King Lear' I felt a sense of catharsis after the searing tragedy.
With this, as the characters are far more roughly sketched in, seeming more like sterotypes,I could not be as affected by the tragedy, but I did get a far slighter sense of catharsis from it.
Displaying 1 of 1 review