Download Reading Revolution: Shakespeare on Robben Island

1
Reading
Revolution
Shakespeare
on
Robben
Island
Description
quotSomhow, Shakespeare always seems
to have something to
say to us.quot?Nelson MandelaThe prison
authorities on apartheid South Africa's Robben
Island strictly censored the reading materials
inmates received from the outside world. Yet, the
prisoners cleverly managed to smuggle political
literature disguised as religious texts, into
their communal cells. The works of Shakespeare
resonated deepest amongst the inmates for their
anti-colonial and anti- apartheid inspirations,
as much as for the power and beauty of their
words. Through the memories and biographical
accounts written by former political inmates
including Nelson Mandela, Reading Revolution
evocatively depicts the power of these great
works. We see how words can inspire the human
spirit, light up the intellect, and free the
reader to travel the world. The book, with nearly
fifty pages of four-color illustrations, ignites
once more, a reading revolution, to stir up the
imagination in a South Africa whose democratic
transition seeks to consolidate power from above,
while being increasingly contested by insurgent
protest from below.