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Takis Mag: Cancel Away!
NEW YORK—I’ve never met anyone named Othello, certainly not in Venice nor in Cyprus, but perhaps there are men by that name in Africa. The only one referred to as Othello, but always behind his back, was the greatest of all Russians, Alexander Pushkin: “As jealous as Othello but twice as dark,” was what les mauvaises langues in court called the great poet. Pushkin had a great-grandfather general who was Ethiopian. I’ll get back to Othello in a jiffy, but first a few words about marital jealousy and Pushkin. The poet got a bee in his bonnet early on after marrying the beautiful but coquettish Natalia because she flirted, harmlessly but nevertheless disastrously. Innocent flirting might be fun in the English shires where men are more interested in killing birds and chasing foxes, but not where hot-blooded Russians are concerned. That’s where the Dutch ambassador’s bum-boy and adopted son, George D’Anthes, who swung both ways, comes into the story. The palace buzzed with gossip as D’Anthes danced nonstop with Natalia and flirted with her outrageously. Pushkin immediately challenged him to a duel, but the Dutch ambassador tried to cool him down and had his bum-boy son ask Ekaterina, Natalia’s sister, to become his wife. In no time Georgie Porgie became Pushkin’s brother-in-law. The Tsar declared the case closed. The poet did not fall for it, however—and rightly so. He challenged again and presented himself ready to fight without a second. D’Anthes the coward—he was an officer and familiar with weapons—shot first, mortally wounding Alexander the great. Like most cowards, D’Anthes lived to a ripe old age and died in Paris early in the 20th century. So far so bad, as far as sexual jealousy is concerned. It certainly did in Pushkin, who should have known all about Othello and that psychopathic swine Iago, who at least got his comeuppance. Now Othello is back in the news, but not that American students have suddenly discovered Shakespeare. To the contrary, they think the Bard should not be taught because he’s all the things they hate and that I like, but we know all that already. No, the reason Othello is back in the news is because at the University of Michigan, a Chinese-born professor showed the sensitive ones a film of Othello starring Laurence Olivier. Larry appeared as the melancholy Moor in blackface makeup; students were “offended” and all hell broke loose. The irony is that the professor who showed the clips was himself a victim during the Chinese Cultural Revolution and had been roughed up by the Red Guards. Read the rest at the link Posted by: badanov 2021-11-21 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=618011 |