The Age of Shakespeare [Audio CD]

Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: Recorded Books
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1402575149
• ISBN-13: 978-1402575143
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 6.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,298,083 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Sir Frank Kermode has been a prominent figure in the world of literary criticism since the 1960s. He has been King Edward VII Professor of English Literature at Cambridge and Professor of Poetry at Harvard. He was knighted in 1991.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Many insights, July 5, 2004

By 

Kurt A. Johnson (North-Central Illinois, USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Age of Shakespeare (Modern Library Chronicles) (Hardcover)

In this nifty little book, author and historian Frank Kermode gives us a new insight into the life and works of William Shakespeare. Beginning with a quick introduction to Elizabethan England, the author then goes on to trace Shakespeare's life, putting each of the plays into context, relative to what was happening in his life and in England at the time. Overall, I found this to be an entertaining and highly informative read. In particular I enjoyed the many insights that the author gave me into how Elizabeth drama worked and how it operated. I really loved this book, and highly recommend it to you!

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting intro, July 15, 2004

By 

Charlus "charlus" (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Age of Shakespeare (Modern Library Chronicles) (Hardcover)

A combination of lit crit, history and biography, this brief book ultimately feels like an appetizer rather than a meal, despite its nearly 200 pages. A tasty appetizer however as it is brimming with fascinating facts about Elizabethan theater and Shakespeares plays (and language). Extremely readable, it may be too superficial for Shakespearean scholars but for the general reader who wants a quick overview of things Shakespeare, this lovely little book should fit the bill.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Small package ... mixed bag, March 25, 2004

By 

Jesse Steven Hargrave (Silver City, NM) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Age of Shakespeare (Modern Library Chronicles) (Hardcover)

Not all things that come in small packages are undilutedly good. There are both many invigorating and some annoying aspects in this slim volume of chronologically arranged essays from Frank Kermode.

The best aspects arise when Kermode stays true to this title. That is, the book is finest when describing the milieu and preoccupations of Elizabethan England (or "Britain", since that distinction proves important to attitudes at the accession of James I) and relating those to the plays. Some of what struck me as the most interesting examples of this: Queen Elizabeth's belief that she was descended from the Roman Emperor Constantine and how that was reflected in "Antony and Cleopatra"; the issuing by King James in 1607 of a proclamation deploring crowds assembling "riotously in multitudes" and how that concern informs "Coriolanus"; and the customary conflating of "Macbeth" with the Gunpowder Plot enriched by a discussion of the play's use of the term "equivocation".

Among many fascinating aspects that go beyond the content of the plays, Kermode is especially informative about the distinction between the acting companies made up of boys and those of adult men players and the effect this had on many aspects of the theatrical environment. And there's his revelation that it was customary for the company to "dance a jig" after a play, even a tragedy.

Kermode's language is inventive and compelling, accessible for the most part even to someone -- like myself -- lacking knowledge of much of his context. Occasionally however his sentences become pretzel-like, circling back on themselves and becoming indigestible just when their meaning seems within grasp.

My primary and overarching complaint is that this is a small book (4 ½ x 7, 214 pages). Some of the author's most interesting discussions are abbreviated by the limitations of the format. The publisher has nonetheless thought it just to price it at $21.95.

Like many in the seemingly hermetically-sealed world of Shakespearean scholarship, Kermode can not resist providing unjustifiable biographical details. Despite an early warning against it, we find tell-tale language such as "we may guess that", "was almost certainly", and "as he must have". He assures us that Shakespeare preferred horses to walking. And it may have been the limitations of the format that forced him to present as unarguable such disputatious concepts as the existence of an "ur-Hamlet" and that Robert Greene's attributed attack on "Shake-scene" was definitely referring to the author of the plays.

It's clear that Frank Kermode has a deep and unique understanding of both the plays and the times that produced them. "The Age of Shakespeare" allows him to, by apposing, illuminate them.