Shakespeare References in The Wakeful Wanderer’s Guide To New New England & Beyond

Jim Infantino’s first novel contains a couple of Shakespeare references. The first is a reference to The Tempest, with Infantino writing, “As is true with every sea change in thinking, there are always people who cannot or will not adapt” (p. 64). The phrase “sea change” comes from Ariel’s lines, “Those are pearls that were his eyes/Nothing of him that doth fade/But doth suffer a sea change/Into something rich and strange.” The second reference is interesting, for it is a mashup of phrases from two of Shakespeare’s plays, Macbeth and Romeo And Juliet. A character named Nora “thexts” (thought-texts), “Tomorrow, my love.” Other people pick up on her thought, and the line begins to change as it is shared (sort of like the game of telephone), until it is “Tomorrow and tomorrow and such sweet sorrow my love” (p. 185). The “tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow” speech from Macbeth is my favorite of all of Shakespeare’s work, and the second part of that line of course comes from what is commonly referred to as the balcony scene from Romeo And Juliet. “Parting is such sweet sorrow/That I shall say good night till it be morrow.”

The Wakeful Wanderer’s Guide To New New England & Beyond was published in 2018.