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May 19 , 2004 - Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Valley&State Backpage O&E Sports Archives Classifieds Faith&Beliefs Obituaries Revels February 26, 2004 Fulfillment 30 years in the making By Andrew Scot Bolsinger Editor Michael Hays waited for one career to finish before he got serious about his second one. But throughout the quarter of a century that he worked as a high-tech consultant in Washington, D.C., he never stopped planning, studying and preparing to pursue his real passion: A dissertation penned in 1973 that just had to make its way into print. The result is a 2003 academic publication called, "Shakespearean Tragedy as Chivalric Romance." "This was always the lodestone," Hays says of his book. "I'd done a little publicly - teaching or writing - while working at my career, but I knew I couldn't get it done until I retired." Hays only recently moved to Ashland, after he retired to his native Cleveland, "meaning to live there forever." Ironically, it was not the Shakespeare book, but the overall impression of the city that brought Hays here. He and his girlfriend originally wanted to tour the Rocky Mountains for a new place to call home, but after visiting Ashland, Hays knew he had found the right place. "Ashland had the only mix that gave me a teaching opportunity at the university and my partner a job," he says. The book is meant to be controversial, at least in the sense that its tenets will shake up commonly held views. For instance, Hays points to long scenes, often deleted from performances like Macbeth, that are often misunderstood. "I am not trying to read his mind," Hays says of The Bard of Avon, "but you have to say that he knew what he was doing." In simple terms, Hays' book advocates looking at Othello, Macbeth, Hamlet and King Lear, less as tragedies as more as romances. Tragedies, Hays argues, simply consider the fate of the protagonist. "But because the tragic protagonist," Hays writes, "operates within a larger social context, the genre tragedy cannot account for the full meaning, or experience, of these plays." Hays knows some may challenge his thesis, or even his credentials, seeing he has been so long removed from academic circles. But Hays' confidence is unflinching. "I have a Ph.D., the same degree they all have," he says. Hays says he wrote the book less to prove himself in academic circles and more to bring to light a view he has held tightly for three decades. He graduated from the University of Michigan, and failed to find a job in academic circles. "It was a horrible job market at that time," Hays says. So far Hays has been pleased with most of the reviews of his book. He was very encouraged by reaction from recognized Shakespearean scholars who say his ideas have merit. The release of his book, he says, finally blended both his calling and his occupation, his passion and his vocation. As to what's next? "I have no idea," Hays says, other than getting more familiar with his new Ashland home, and working to market the book. Besides, after waiting three decades to print his book, he's no hurry to move on to the next project. DailyTidings.com Home Page Valley&State | Backpage | O&E | Sports | Archives | Weather | Classifieds Columnists | Faith&Beliefs | Obituaries | Revels | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2004 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Site Search: .:Advertisements:. RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams