Background
Fallon, Robert Thomas was born on June 6, 1927 in New York City. Son of John Edward and Winifred (Hanigan) Fallon.
(Readers and playgoers who are new to Shakespeare (and eve...)
Readers and playgoers who are new to Shakespeare (and even more seasoned veterans who would like to appreciate him more than they do) often find themselves puzzled: what is going on? His characters speak in verse rather than in the patterns of everyday speech. They are figures that ordinary humans seldom encounter―kings, queens, dukes, cardinals, and generals. Some of the plays are set in places even the most seasoned traveler is unlikely to have visited―Bohemia, Illyria, and the ancient Greek cities of Asia Minor―and in times from the distant past―imperial Rome, medieval Venice, Homer's Troy. What's more, the plots pursue events that seemingly have little to do with the daily round of modern lives―contention for a royal crown, assassination, shipwreck, occult visitation. Robert Fallon's small book is designed to dispel some of this apparent strangeness. It shows readers that what may at first seem unfamiliar to them is in fact close to their own lives. Kings and queens emerge as recognizable fathers and mothers, dukes and earls as squabbling siblings of any era. Exotic locales might be any present-day village or city block. And the plots resemble stories to be found in the pages of our morning newspaper. Shakespeare's language takes some getting used to, but even a brief acquaintance with its cadence and imagery will offer a glimpse of its glories. In How to Enjoy Shakespeare, Mr. Fallon explores Shakespeare's familiarity in five sections dealing with language, theme, staging, character, and plot, each abundantly illustrated with episodes and quotations from the plays. He writes in easily accessible prose in a book designed to make modern readers and audiences feel comfortable with the Bard.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1566636183/?tag=2022091-20
( For students of the poet, Robert Fallon's Milton in Gov...)
For students of the poet, Robert Fallon's Milton in Government fills a gap in modern knowledge of his life, the ten years he labored as Secretary for Foreign Languages to the English Republic. For Interregnum historians, the book offers a study of the international affairs of the Republic from a unique perspective, as well as a detailed analysis of the government bureaucracy that conceived and articulated foreign policy during the 1650s. Milton's decade of public service to the English Republic, and the collection of State Papers which are the product of those years, have been either misunderstood or largely ignored by Miltonists, and their influence upon his poetry all but dismissed. Making extensive use of the State Papers Foreign in the Public Record Office, hitherto overlooked by literary scholars, and the Calendar of State Papers Domestic, Fallon offers the first definitive description of the poet's place in government. He finds Milton to be an indefatigable and highly knowledgeable public servant, closely involved in the expression of foreign policy, and responsible for many more documents than have been previously ascribed to him. His State Letters reveal him as a man intimately aware of international events, a consideration which leaves little doubt that his experience in government had a significant influence on his creative imagination. Fallon also provides a reading of Milton's tracts of 1659–1660, tracing the influence of a decade of public service in his political philosophy and questioning historians' conclusions that he was repudiating Cromwell's Protectorate in his appeal to stave off the Restoration.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0271026308/?tag=2022091-20
Fallon, Robert Thomas was born on June 6, 1927 in New York City. Son of John Edward and Winifred (Hanigan) Fallon.
Bachelor of Science, United States Military Academy, 1949. Master of Arts in History, Canisius College, 1960. Master of Arts in English, Columbia University, 1962.
Doctor of Philosophy in English, Columbia University, 1965.
Commissioned 2nd Lieutenant, United States Army, 1949; advanced through grades lieutenant colonel, United States Army, 1965; retired, United States Army, 1970; associate Professor of English, LaSalle U., Philadelphia, 1970-1978; Professor of English, LaSalle U., Philadelphia, 1978-1995; professor emeritus, since 1995.
(Readers and playgoers who are new to Shakespeare (and eve...)
( For students of the poet, Robert Fallon's Milton in Gov...)
Member Modern Language Association, Cromwell Association, Milton Society of America (treasurer 1977-1986, vice president 1987, president 1988, honored scholar 2007), John Donne Society (member executive committee 1991-1993).
Married Mary Snyder, May 18, 1953 (divorced May 1971). Children: Frances Fallon Schuster, Robert Thomas Junior.