All the World's a Reading List
Hello readers, I write this on June 20th, in the year of our Lord (though it doesn't feel like it) 2020. I was sharing some book recommendations with a friend. To be frank, it started as recommending one book, and then I had to suggest another to supplement, and just in case they wanted a different angle, you could add in this one for a more thorough view, and and and...
Naturally, the topic was William Shakespeare.
Without further ado (about what exactly?) I present...
A Brief Bardic Reading List
For those who can't shake off Shakespeare.
For your straightforward, Stratfordian biography, I highly recommend Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare by Stephen Greenblatt. Greenblatt writes sentences that twine and crescendo, lure you in and knock you out. The writing is matched by the research: thriving, bustling, paranoid, not-quite-merry old England is captured in vivid detail. Greenblatt has to resort to a lot of speculation, but his speculation is well-founded and, like I said, fascinating to read about.
The only sticking point, and it's a big one, is that Greenblatt has got himself a hate on for Anne Hathaway, Mrs. Shakespeare. It's so bad, Greenblatt bends over backwards to account for how if you really think about it, all of Shakespeare's comedy-ending marriages are doomed to be miserable. The MacBeths are the only actually happy couple, if you really think about it. It's the kind of writing that makes you go, Greenblatt? Stephen? Steve? Do you want to talk about something? Ahem?
With that in mind, to supplement the above, I highly recommend Shakespeare's Wife by Germaine Greer. If Greenblatt has to wade in speculation, Greer is forced to swim, but I argue that she's made a very compelling case all the same. Greer calls out bardolaters of past and present who take the evidence about Shakespeare's life and pile on their own misogyny. In the body of the text, Greer draws off of contemporary documents, some of them dry as can be to talk about finance (the daily life of a milkmaid, a midwife, a commercial brewer), some of them more emotional to talk about romance (Shakespeare has a thing for people falling in love over instruction and teaching; a young Cinderlad marrying a wealthier, older woman would have been considered quite romantic, which is different from today). Judith and Hamnet get a new perspective when Greer points out that, as twins, one of them might easily have been born disabled, and Hathaway might have been rendered barren. You notice I'm using "might have been" a lot, that's what I meant about speculation. But 1. Greenblatt does almost as much on his end, and 2. Greer's book is exhaustively researched, readable, and like I said, a perfect supplement to any Stratfordian's bookshelf.
"But what about anti-Stratfordians?" I hear you cry. "A glove-maker's son!" come the echoes.
Okay. Audience, there is exactly one non-Stratfordian book on this list. And it has passed my highest tests. I vouch for Sweet Swan of Avon by Robin P. Williams.
All Anti-Stratfordian theory fails before the historical fact that noblemen could, in fact, write for the theater. They could and did, and we have papers to prove so. It was not a source of enormous shame, it was a common practice, at worst just one of those aristocratic eccentricities.
But noblewomen, ahh, there's a different story. Noblewomen were expected to stick to nonfiction, religious writings, or possibly translation of sufficiently demure works, like the Bible. And there was one woman-- Mary Sidney, Countess of Pembroke-- who had the education, the literary skill, the connections, the library-- everything in place to support her authorship. I dare say Ms. Sidney even had the audacity. Williams makes a watertight case, which is why this book has an important place on my Shakespearean Reading List.
Edited to add that I really loved Living with Shakespeare: Actors, Directors, and Writers on Shakespeare in Our Time. It's always fun to read how a variety of people react to the same general text, what they take away from it, AND what they bring to it. The contributors also provide character insight that brings Shakespeare's hero(in)es even more to life-- for instance, that Beatrice is always full of wit and mirth because she always is on the back foot, living as a ward in her wealthy uncle's house. She has to pay their kindness back in laughter, as a good guest pays their host somehow. Carson's anthology is a rich, readable pleasure.
When it comes to fiction, this is a selection of books that I greatly enjoyed:
Shakespeare in Love: A Screenplay is a witty, wise, thoroughly modern take on the writing of Romeo and Juliet. It's inaccurate, but the kind of inaccurate that sneaks in proof that Stoppard knows his bard, and is having a blast.
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead is likewise modern and postmodern, a bardic brainteaser which winks at death and drinks with despair.
An Antic Disposition by Alan Gordon is the fifth novel in the Fool's Guild series, but it works as a standalone, a retelling of Hamlet from the point of view of the spy in plain sight: the court fool. I enjoy Gordon's spy style in the Fool's Guild books-- where the jolly old fools are the only ones who see warfare for the insanity that it is; the fools are the only ones who work for peace.
Hag-Seed by Margaret Atwood retells The Tempest by setting it in the modern day, in the cutthroat world of Canadian theater festivals. Jokes aside, it's also about theater in prison, and very moving thereby. It's one of the best examples I've read lately of a subtly unreliable narrator: the narrator sticks close to the main character's head, and this character is smart, but selfish, so much so he never realizes he's not the actual protagonist of the book.
Thus concludes my reading list, for right now, although I must add there's many fine picture book adaptations of Shakespeare, suitable for children--though the plays themselves can be rendered for kids without dumbing them down: my mom once taught Romeo and Juliet to enraptured third-graders. The Bard is for everyone.
Also, don't watch that Kenneth Branagh movie All is True unless you enjoy watching one of our preeminent Shakespeare interpreters completely bungle a golden opportunity and turn the life of his idol into an indulgent, second rate soap opera.
Naturally, the topic was William Shakespeare.
Without further ado (about what exactly?) I present...
A Brief Bardic Reading List
For those who can't shake off Shakespeare.
For your straightforward, Stratfordian biography, I highly recommend Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare by Stephen Greenblatt. Greenblatt writes sentences that twine and crescendo, lure you in and knock you out. The writing is matched by the research: thriving, bustling, paranoid, not-quite-merry old England is captured in vivid detail. Greenblatt has to resort to a lot of speculation, but his speculation is well-founded and, like I said, fascinating to read about.
The only sticking point, and it's a big one, is that Greenblatt has got himself a hate on for Anne Hathaway, Mrs. Shakespeare. It's so bad, Greenblatt bends over backwards to account for how if you really think about it, all of Shakespeare's comedy-ending marriages are doomed to be miserable. The MacBeths are the only actually happy couple, if you really think about it. It's the kind of writing that makes you go, Greenblatt? Stephen? Steve? Do you want to talk about something? Ahem?
With that in mind, to supplement the above, I highly recommend Shakespeare's Wife by Germaine Greer. If Greenblatt has to wade in speculation, Greer is forced to swim, but I argue that she's made a very compelling case all the same. Greer calls out bardolaters of past and present who take the evidence about Shakespeare's life and pile on their own misogyny. In the body of the text, Greer draws off of contemporary documents, some of them dry as can be to talk about finance (the daily life of a milkmaid, a midwife, a commercial brewer), some of them more emotional to talk about romance (Shakespeare has a thing for people falling in love over instruction and teaching; a young Cinderlad marrying a wealthier, older woman would have been considered quite romantic, which is different from today). Judith and Hamnet get a new perspective when Greer points out that, as twins, one of them might easily have been born disabled, and Hathaway might have been rendered barren. You notice I'm using "might have been" a lot, that's what I meant about speculation. But 1. Greenblatt does almost as much on his end, and 2. Greer's book is exhaustively researched, readable, and like I said, a perfect supplement to any Stratfordian's bookshelf.
"But what about anti-Stratfordians?" I hear you cry. "A glove-maker's son!" come the echoes.
Okay. Audience, there is exactly one non-Stratfordian book on this list. And it has passed my highest tests. I vouch for Sweet Swan of Avon by Robin P. Williams.
All Anti-Stratfordian theory fails before the historical fact that noblemen could, in fact, write for the theater. They could and did, and we have papers to prove so. It was not a source of enormous shame, it was a common practice, at worst just one of those aristocratic eccentricities.
But noblewomen, ahh, there's a different story. Noblewomen were expected to stick to nonfiction, religious writings, or possibly translation of sufficiently demure works, like the Bible. And there was one woman-- Mary Sidney, Countess of Pembroke-- who had the education, the literary skill, the connections, the library-- everything in place to support her authorship. I dare say Ms. Sidney even had the audacity. Williams makes a watertight case, which is why this book has an important place on my Shakespearean Reading List.
Edited to add that I really loved Living with Shakespeare: Actors, Directors, and Writers on Shakespeare in Our Time. It's always fun to read how a variety of people react to the same general text, what they take away from it, AND what they bring to it. The contributors also provide character insight that brings Shakespeare's hero(in)es even more to life-- for instance, that Beatrice is always full of wit and mirth because she always is on the back foot, living as a ward in her wealthy uncle's house. She has to pay their kindness back in laughter, as a good guest pays their host somehow. Carson's anthology is a rich, readable pleasure.
When it comes to fiction, this is a selection of books that I greatly enjoyed:
Shakespeare in Love: A Screenplay is a witty, wise, thoroughly modern take on the writing of Romeo and Juliet. It's inaccurate, but the kind of inaccurate that sneaks in proof that Stoppard knows his bard, and is having a blast.
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead is likewise modern and postmodern, a bardic brainteaser which winks at death and drinks with despair.
An Antic Disposition by Alan Gordon is the fifth novel in the Fool's Guild series, but it works as a standalone, a retelling of Hamlet from the point of view of the spy in plain sight: the court fool. I enjoy Gordon's spy style in the Fool's Guild books-- where the jolly old fools are the only ones who see warfare for the insanity that it is; the fools are the only ones who work for peace.
Hag-Seed by Margaret Atwood retells The Tempest by setting it in the modern day, in the cutthroat world of Canadian theater festivals. Jokes aside, it's also about theater in prison, and very moving thereby. It's one of the best examples I've read lately of a subtly unreliable narrator: the narrator sticks close to the main character's head, and this character is smart, but selfish, so much so he never realizes he's not the actual protagonist of the book.
Thus concludes my reading list, for right now, although I must add there's many fine picture book adaptations of Shakespeare, suitable for children--though the plays themselves can be rendered for kids without dumbing them down: my mom once taught Romeo and Juliet to enraptured third-graders. The Bard is for everyone.
Also, don't watch that Kenneth Branagh movie All is True unless you enjoy watching one of our preeminent Shakespeare interpreters completely bungle a golden opportunity and turn the life of his idol into an indulgent, second rate soap opera.
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