As a UT student in the 80s, I made that same walk/drive hundreds of times in every conceivable emotional, physical, and mental state, even worked as a messenger in the Texas State Capitol one summer. May Austin embrace your academic adventure as it did so many of my peers and colleagues. And don’t worry too much about that 40 Acres behemoth a few blocks North. Your New School carries the undiluted spirits of the true Old Austin!
Congratulations from New Hampshire with this fantastic opportunity to nudge education in the right direction. I probably would not know about your University without substack.
I'm happy to see UATX get off the ground, but President Pano Kanelos misremembers Hamlet -- and it's an important point.
As quoted above, he says, "Instead of telling Hamlet to avenge his father’s death, the ghost tells him that his obligation, his duty, is to remember him. He says, 'Hamlet, Hamlet, remember your poor father.' And Hamlet absorbs the call to remember, and that becomes the thing that animates him."
First, the ghost DOES tell Hamlet to avenge his death:
Hamlet: Speak; I am bound to hear.
Ghost: So art thou to revenge, when thou shalt hear.
....
Ghost: If thou didst ever thy father love --
Hamlet: O God!
Ghost: Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder.
Hamlet: Murder!
The ghost then tells Hamlet the details of this "murder most foul" by Hamlet's uncle, "that incestuous, that adulterate beast." The ghost yet again calls Hamlet to action:
"If thou hast nature in thee, bear it not;
Let not the royal bed of Denmark be
A couch for luxury and damned incest."
The ghost's final words remind Hamlet to remember his father, yes -- but to remember in order to act: to avenge his father's death.
Second, to look to this scene as "a call to remember" which "animates" Hamlet overlooks the fact that Hamlet's failure to act, to kill Claudius when he had the chance, is what makes this play a tragedy. Had Hamlet acted, there would not have been the pile-up of bodies his failure sets in motion. Hamlet remembers, he thinks, he talks ... it provides the basis for a powerful play, but it's not an example to follow.
As a UT student in the 80s, I made that same walk/drive hundreds of times in every conceivable emotional, physical, and mental state, even worked as a messenger in the Texas State Capitol one summer. May Austin embrace your academic adventure as it did so many of my peers and colleagues. And don’t worry too much about that 40 Acres behemoth a few blocks North. Your New School carries the undiluted spirits of the true Old Austin!
Congratulations from New Hampshire with this fantastic opportunity to nudge education in the right direction. I probably would not know about your University without substack.
Honored to be part of the UATX revolution!
I'm happy to see UATX get off the ground, but President Pano Kanelos misremembers Hamlet -- and it's an important point.
As quoted above, he says, "Instead of telling Hamlet to avenge his father’s death, the ghost tells him that his obligation, his duty, is to remember him. He says, 'Hamlet, Hamlet, remember your poor father.' And Hamlet absorbs the call to remember, and that becomes the thing that animates him."
First, the ghost DOES tell Hamlet to avenge his death:
Hamlet: Speak; I am bound to hear.
Ghost: So art thou to revenge, when thou shalt hear.
....
Ghost: If thou didst ever thy father love --
Hamlet: O God!
Ghost: Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder.
Hamlet: Murder!
The ghost then tells Hamlet the details of this "murder most foul" by Hamlet's uncle, "that incestuous, that adulterate beast." The ghost yet again calls Hamlet to action:
"If thou hast nature in thee, bear it not;
Let not the royal bed of Denmark be
A couch for luxury and damned incest."
The ghost's final words remind Hamlet to remember his father, yes -- but to remember in order to act: to avenge his father's death.
Second, to look to this scene as "a call to remember" which "animates" Hamlet overlooks the fact that Hamlet's failure to act, to kill Claudius when he had the chance, is what makes this play a tragedy. Had Hamlet acted, there would not have been the pile-up of bodies his failure sets in motion. Hamlet remembers, he thinks, he talks ... it provides the basis for a powerful play, but it's not an example to follow.
Very exciting, Maggie Kelly!
UATX is such an exciting, refreshing and much needed university. Best wishes to the classs of '28!
Love the chutzpah of these founding freshmen!