I was reviewing Sara C’s Blog and when I came across her post about the impact of Shakespeare in Andrew Carnegie’s Autobiography, I was surprised. I had forgotten that we have that same class, and I thought it was funny, because I had just finished reading that section and thought that it would be cool to post about. I think that she does a great job of putting it out there in context. My take on it was a little different. As I continued reading in his autobiography I wondered in the back of my mind what impact his fascination with Shakespeare as a child would have in adulthood. One thing that stood out to me was Carnegie’s desire to accumulate a precise vocabulary. When detailing the adventures of his life at the age of 24 he relates a peculiar story. A partner through contract was beginning to feel uneasy about the transaction taking place between Carnegie’s institution and his own. The story is as follows:
On one occasion he came to my brother to complain that a bargain which he had made for the supply of iron for a year had not been copied correctly. The prices were “net,” and nothing had been said about “net” when the bargain was made. He wanted to know what the word “net” meant.
“Well, Colonel,” said my brother, “it means that nothing more is to be added.”
“All right, Thomas,” said the Colonel, entirely satisfied.
There is much in the way one puts things. “Nothing to be deducted” might have caused a dispute.
Examine the attention to detail that Carnegie’s observation shows. He fixates on the delivery of the prose, rather than their explicit message. His focus on this process allows him to make that insightful comment “There is much in the way one puts things.” It is not a direct correlation to his focus on Shakespeare as a youth, or is it? After all, Shakespeare is considered a master of the English Language, and I think that it is likely that from that focus he developed the skill set needed to critically observe the delivery of prose. A skill set he would have seen Shakespeare utilize when toying with the formation of sentences in his plays. Shakespeare is timeless.
Carnegie was a pretty rich guy, so I guess if you wanted to follow a train of partial logic you could say: Study Shakespeare as a Youth + Work Hard as an Adult = Success
(Literature as tolls for life)
(Literature as tolls for life)
