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A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare : 1599 - HarperCollins
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List Price: $27.95Now Price: $16.00Authors: James ShapiroPublication date: 2005-10-01
Maybe the best book on Shakespeare in the past 20 years
2005-11-27
I routinely read every book on Shakespeare that comes out. Most of them -- such as Will of the World -- speculate about this elusive figure without adding much to what we already know Shapiro's book is different It's a brilliant insight to add to the two main traditions of biographical studies of S -- his life as a working actor/manager and the intellectual roots of his plays plus the hints they give of his life and beliefs.
Shapiro embeds S the playwright in the politics of his age, particularly Elizabeth's reign coming to an end, the Earl of Essex as a potential rebel, the alarms about a possible new Spanish Armada, and the latent underground Catholic opposition to the new regime that had broken up the rhythms and traditions of conservative England. He makes S the observer much more a man of his era than most comparable books. He offers many insights into the time and S's place in it.
For me, there is only one test of a book on Shakespeare: does it send you back to reread the plays. This one did. His analysis of Julius Caesar is a significant new slant on the work. He gves me a richer sense of the always active mind of this complex man who was at the same time an intellectual, practical man of business, upward mobile money seeker -- and part of London's milieu.
I rate this as an outstanding new contribution to Shakespeare studies
Stick to the History
2005-11-26
The material on the life and times is interesting; but Shapiro's literary judgments and textual interpretations are so wide of the mark as to be obtuse.
As close as you can get
2005-11-22
Having read many of the Shakespeare biographies published over the last eight years, in my opinion, this may be the best. Shapiro does a virtuoso job of exploring the epic historical events of 1599,coupled with the daring personal events in Shakespeare's life(the risky new venture with the Globe)to bring the reader closer to the life of the Bard than any biography other than the brilliant Will in the World. He intensely explores the four groundbreaking plays written in this year ( Henry the Fifth, Julius Caesar, As you Like It, and Hamlet ) and in the process brings you deeper into Shakespeare"s mind than you would t
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