Summary
Summary
In the years leading up to 1606, since the death of Queen Elizabeth and the arrival in England of her successor, King James of Scotland, Shakespeare's great productivity had ebbed, and it may have seemed to some that his prolific genius was a thing of the past. But that year, at age forty-two, he found his footing again, finishing a play he had begun the previous autumn-King Lear-then writing two other great tragedies, Macbeth and Antony and Cleopatra.The Year of Lear sheds light on these three great tragedies by placing them in the context of their times, while also allowing us greater insight into how Shakespeare was personally touched by such events as a terrible outbreak of plague and growing religious divisions. For anyone interested in Shakespeare, this is an indispensable book.
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Shakespeare expert Shapiro delivers a fascinating account of the events of 1606 in Shakespeare's life and how they may have influenced three tragedies the bard is thought to have written that year or soon afterward. Shapiro analyzes the plays King Lear, Antony and Cleopatra, and Macbeth to show the influence of Shakespeare's personal life as well as the new political landscape represented by King James's ascension to the throne. Fass's narration is lackadaisical, but he gets the job done with consistent projection and the right emphasis. But with 11 hours of dense literary criticism, a little energy and enthusiasm is needed to keep listeners attuned; instead Fass merely reads the words on the page. A Simon & Schuster hardcover. (Jan.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
*Starred Review* In a difficult year for England, Shapiro recognizes a fruitful time for the country's greatest playwright William Shakespeare. Indeed, the very difficulties of 1606 incubated the imaginative vigor manifest in the three masterpieces the Bard completed in that year King Lear, Antony and Cleopatra, and Macbeth. The tensions of 1606 arose in part from the push by the new monarch, King James, to unite his Scottish homeland with England, a push raising vexing questions about national identity and about how a divided royalty can strain that identity. Shakespeare embeds these questions in the realpolitik of Lear, so signaling the self-transformation that made a premier Elizabethan dramatist into an iconic Jacobean. Readers detect further evidence of this transformation in Antony and Cleopatra, where the pacific Octavius looks remarkably like the irenic James. True, the peace-loving James became stern after he was almost killed in the blast planned by those who hatched the Gunpowder Plot. But a resourceful Jacobean poet could infuse the fiery royal rhetoric that prosecutors turned against the plotters into King Lear's climactic outburst on the heath. Even the epidemic of plague closing theaters for much of 1606 inspired Shakespeare, who memorialized the tragedy in elegiac lines in Macbeth. An impressively fine-grained Shakespearean inquiry.--Christensen, Bryce Copyright 2015 Booklist
Choice Review
As he did in A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare, 1599 (2005), literary historian James Shapiro (Columbia Univ.) here offers a "slice of a writer's life," this time focusing on 1606, the year Shakespeare first staged King Lear. Shapiro brings to life the events in England around this time, connecting cultural events to Shakespeare's life and plays. Shapiro admits that connecting these historical influences to the Bard "both impedes and enables this effort: to draw Shakespeare out of the shadows demands considerable effort and imaginative labor." Even though Shapiro admittedly speculates about these influences, the study is scholarly, and his ideas are well grounded in solid research. The bibliographic essay that takes up the last 40 some pages of the volume offers sources, documents, historical context, texts, textual issues, staging, and entries for each chapter. Shapiro further draws on dialogues and considers the historical influences on many plays, but he focuses on Macbeth, King Lear, and Antony and Cleopatra. The tone is conversational, immediate, and humorous, so even inexperienced readers will find the book easy to follow. By contextualizing Shakespeare's life and works, Shapiro reveals how the "multifaceted plays brilliantly reflect ... the fears and aspirations of [Shakespeare's] times." Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty. --Jane S. Carducci, Winona State University
Library Journal Review
While often cited for their eternal qualities, William Shakespeare's plays were very much rooted in a specific time and place. Following his successful A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare: 1599, Shapiro (Larry Miller Professor of English, Columbia Univ.; Contested Will) looks at the momentous year of 1606, during which Shakespeare wrote three of his great tragedies: King Lear, Macbeth, and Antony and Cleopatra. As with any full-length biographical work on Shakespeare there is a good amount of conjecture, but Shapiro builds on the few established facts of the playwright's life (1564-1616) by taking a broader look at the political and social factors that influenced his work. There was a lot going on in 1606: the proposed union of Scotland and England under King James; the aftermath of the infamous Gunpowder Plot that nearly wiped out the Royal Court and Parliament in a single blow; and the continued persecution of English Catholics. Shapiro effectively shows how the beliefs, fears, and politics of Shakespeare's day were reflected in his plays. VERDICT Highly recommended for readers interested in Shakespeare or British history. [See Prepub Alert, 4/24/15.]-Nicholas -Graham, Univ. of North Carolina, Chapel Hill © Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.