GLENN DIXON: Well, I taught high school English for twenty years, and I had to teach Shakespeare to mostly compliant teenagers. How did you first hear about the Juliet Club? Glenn spoke with Barbara Bogaev.īARBARA BOGAEV: Well, let’s start at the beginning of this story. Glenn came in to talk about his book, the adventure that led to it, and how it actually ended up changing his life. The result is a delightful memoir titled Juliet’s Answer, that was published in 2017 by Simon and Schuster. In 2014, a Canadian high school teacher named Glenn Dixon, whose love life was itself kind of a mess, decided to take some time over the summer vacation to go to Verona and work as one of Juliet’s secretaries, as the volunteers are called. Giulio has long since retired, but the letters keep coming, and today his daughter runs a team of volunteers who continue to dole out advice. They started calling themselves “The Juliet Club,” and 17 years later, as the letters continued pouring in, a Verona city commissioner asked if it was okay for the town to send all the letters over to them. In 1972, a man named Giulio Tamassia began hosting dinners for a group of his friends. The letters were addressed to Juliet, and for years, no one knew what to do with them. Starting in the 1930s, people began sending letters asking for advice on love and romance to Verona, Italy. This podcast is called “Any Man That Can Write May Answer A Letter.” I’m Michael Witmore, the Folger’s director. And yet, the letters pour in from all over the world: “Dear Juliet, Dear Juliet…” What’s going on?įrom the Folger Shakespeare Library, this is Shakespeare Unlimited. Juliet, a fictional character, a fake Italian created by an Englishman more than 400 years ago. Please tell me what to do.” “Dear Juliet…” I find that I can’t lead them to close relationships, and then to have sex. When will he appear?” “Dear Juliet, I’ve been accepted to a college far away, but my boyfriend lives here.” “Dear Juliet, women don’t like me. “Dear Juliet, I am 16 years old, and have waited so long to meet my Romeo. MICHAEL WITMORE: The letters all start the same: “Dear Juliet.” Previous: Shakespeare in California | Next: Shakespeare and Marlowe More podcasts related to Romeo and Juliet: We had help from Jeff Muller at Alchemy Studios in Calgary, Alberta and Jake Gorsky and Jeff Peters at the Marketplace Studios in Los Angeles. It was editing by Gail Kern Paster and Esther Ferington. “Any Man That Can Write May Answer a Letter” was produced by Richard Paul. Listen on iTunes, SoundCloud, Google Play, or NPR One.įrom the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast series. In 2014, a Canadian high school teacher named Glenn Dixon-whose love life was itself kind of a mess-decided to take some time over summer vacation to go to Verona and work as one of “Juliet’s secretaries,” as the volunteers are called.ĭixon, whose memoir Juliet’s Answer was published in 2017 by Simon and Schuster, is interviewed by Barbara Bogaev. Giulio has long since retired, but the letters keep coming and today his daughter runs a team of volunteers who continue to dole out advice. They started calling themselves “The Juliet Club,” and Verona eventually began sending all the letters their way. The letters were all addressed to Juliet and for years, no one knew what to do with them.
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