Customer Reviews

1599

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Ever since it appeared in January, I've been reading and re-reading this marvelous book and have been sending copies of it to my friends. At different times, with each reading, I have to pause with admiration for an intake of breath, exclaiming inwardly "Why didn't I think of that?" or "How come nobody ever said that before?" This book seems to me a synthesis of all the best writing on Shakespeare, starting with Keats and comprising Granville-Barker, Dover Wilson, Empson, Kermode, Schoenbaum.... It is that rare book of scholarship that is actually useful to actors and directors, as well as being very, very well-written. Ben Sonnenberg, New York

nicely done, sometimes a bit long, far superior and more relevant and organized to his other book on who wrote shakespeare. More like Shakespeare in context than shakespeare in love. It sets the meanings of the plays in closer context than usual (relevance of Essex's Ireland campaign, etc) but of course one wonders whether, although the information is useful for "originalist" views, it still doesn't deflect from understanding the universal appeal. Some of it could be the basis of a PBS program

I love Shakespeare, so I was most interested in what Shapiro had to say especially since he is focusing on one year, 1599. Only a few years before Elizabeth I death.... The research is stellar, I am sure if you are a student of William, then this is for you, but for the average reader or for someone who just wants to see what Shakespeare is all about, you might be better served in some less scholarly work. Can induce deep sleep if you get this book on the audiobook version with Lew Grenville who typically puts no life into the text at all, but is perfect for straight tellings of bios...