THE POWER OF THE WRITTEN WORD
A few years ago we visited the castle of Elsinore of Denmark. The guide reminded us that about 1200 A.D., the king of Pomerania built Elsinore Castle, and also another fortified castle across the Skagerrak Channel in what is now Sweden. He thought that with these two bastions, one on each side of the channel, he could control entrance to the heart of Europe. The castle at Elsinore is in decay, the one in Sweden is gone, the Pomeranian king’s name is forgotten — at least by me. But on the day of my visit, tourist buses were lined up for blocks as they are every day, bringing visitors to that spot. Why? Because one William Shakespeare chose Elsinore as the locale of his drama, Hamlet. The power of the pen outlasts the power of the sword. Sparta had the strongest army in ancient Greece, but its site is rubble. Athens with its Parthenon and its Mars Hill…
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