Risk For Suicide
Risk For Suicide
Risk For Suicide
Wallace's review
May 18, 10
bookshelves: non-fiction
status: Read in January, 2010 — I own a copy
Out this month is Letters to Juliet starring Amanda Seyfried and Vanessa Redgrave. The movie itself is charming in a sweet-romantic way,
but did you know it was based off of a book? And though the story itself isn't taken from any actual account, the theme is very much true...
In Verona, Italy there is a monument dedicated to Juliet Capulet, its most famous resident, where thousands have flocked for over a century
to pray to, talk to, touch the gravestone of, and leave letters for the iconic lady of love. But how can that be? Juliet is a character, a figment of
William Shakespeare's imagination. Well, there you are wrong. Though we don't know that Juliet ever existed, her legend reaches back
much farther than Shakespeare, who wasn't as original as you might think. He took his story from other writers (primarily Arthur Brooks's
Tragicall Historye of Romeus and Juliet and Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde), who had taken their stories from others before them. And
Juliet's (as well as Romeo's) existence depends entirely on whom you are asking. She is a legend, and many believe that legends start
somewhere.
Regardless of Juliet's actual existence, the lovelorn have been visiting this site in Verona for centuries; speaking to Juliet and tacking up
notes begging her for help or just a listening ear. In the 1930's someone started answering them. Ettore Solimani was given the job of
caretaker to Juliet's tomb in April of 1937. As someone who deeply respected the legend of the arguably greatest heroine of love, he wanted
to do something more than just clean the grounds and admit people into the memorial. He recognized that what these women (and often
men as well) wanted was to be part of the legend -- to hear from Juliet as though she was a divine presence who could solve their love woes.
So he began to write back and became the first of Juliet's Secretaries; a line of people (often more than just one person now-a-days) now
known as Club di Giulietta, who respond to each letter written to Juliet that includes a return address. To this day not only do people post
hundreds of thousands of letters along the wall at Juliet's tomb, but they also send their letters to Verona from across the world.
In Letters to Juliet: Celebrating Shakespeare's Greatest Heroine, the Magical City of Verona, and the Power of Love the history of this
magically romantic story, as well as the town of Verona and it's devotion to their sacred resident is told through photographs, facts, and
samples of letters written to Giulietta. It's almost enough to make you believe she's still there... and write your own letter.