The Wisdom of Will: 365 Days of Shakespeare's Wit is a calendar/daybook for the year 2014, the 450th anniversary of William Shakespeare's birth. This 365-page calendar presents a medley of Shakespeare's observations on life, politics, and nature. The quotes include excerpts from impassioned soliloquies, proverbial wisdom, and even selected prayers and curses. Each page contains a brief quote, a short description of the scene, a contemporary rephrasing of the quote, and space for appointments or reflections. Every page also contains one of seven Celtic designs indicating days of the week. Since the days of the week are not named, the book can function as a perpetual daybook that can be started at any time. Included are year-at-a-glance calendar pages for 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017. As the weeks pass, readers will discover Shakespeare's astonishing grasp of the intricacies of the human soul and of nature's miraculous beauty.
Jill O'Hora, Ph.D., is an English professor at Pasadena City College, Pasadena, California. Her doctoral dissertation on Shakespeare's tragedies provides the foundation for her teaching and writing career. In addition to Shakespeare and theatre, her academic interests include interdisciplinary teaching, cross-cultural perspectives, and Jungian psychology. Dr. O'Hora has conducted theatre groups in Oregon, Canada, and Ireland and has presented cross-cultural drama workshops and lectures in Russia and England. Her publications include a Jungian approach to Shakespeare's Scottish tragedy, "The Consciousness of Evil in Shakespeare's Macbeth," and The Ties That No Longer Bind, a book of conversations between Russians and Americans. The Wisdom of Will grows directly out of Jill's lifelong reliance on Shakespeare's plays and poems as sources of guidance and inspiration.