Let me explain the title a little. "Soupçon" is a French term, the favourite of the chef community. It refers to that special pinch (eh, 'punch', too) which adds a unique flavour to the concoction
Our column, which extends that metaphor, is going to be a cornucopia of 'wise saws' about literature (more the varieties, the better), related fields, humanities and the arts. It would be an immense help for those preparing for the NET/SET/JRF kind of competitive examinations. May be, the aspirants might want me to do much more along these lines. Let us see! Yet, for sure, the not-so-literary, non-specialist reader, too, would enjoy these details!
Soupçon I. iv The Dis-ease and the Public Space
The pandemic that could have almost ruined a nascent career began in August, 1592; peaked circa December, 1592, and was officially declared under control in December, 1593 , though sporadic cases continued till end, 1595!
There was a method in the mad spread of the epidemic. The dominion of death drear moved from the outer parishes to the center of London. As those days, the theatres, such as 'The Rose' and 'The Curtain', were in the Shoreditch area just outside London, when the authorities decided to close public spaces, the theatre world suffered hugely.
The bubonic plague had claimed some fifteen thousand lives by December, 1592. Something was indeed rotten in the state of England! The bacterium Yersinia pestis which caused the notorious "ring of roses" thrived in the fleas on rats. Given the terrible stink, it was thought that herbs could heal it.
The fault was not in the stars, though the planetary alignment of Saturn passing through Cancer and Leo was blamed. With the theatres closed ad infinitum, how to survive, that was the question. In Soupçon I. v, let us find out how Shakespeare rose to the awful occasion
Pratima Agnihotri Pune
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