Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare
by Stephen Greenblatt
Book Summary Information
Author: Stephen GreenblattEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2005-09-19
ISBN: 039332737X
Number of pages: 384
Publisher: W. W. Norton
Book Reviews of Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare
Book Review: Appreciating Will
Summary: 4 Stars
Will in the World enters the crowded arena of Shakespeare biographies with a bang. Many reviews have complained about the speculative nature of the text and the fact that Greenblatt takes "liberties" with many details of Shakespeare`s life. Well, how could he not?
Don't read this book for a run of the mill biography. Read it for its interesting analysis of Shakespeare's works and their possible connections to his life and values. Appreciation of biographies of Shakespeare are only as valuable as the reader's knowledge and interest in the subject's own plethora of plays and poems. If you don't enjoy Shakespeare's art and are not interested in receiving some prized human insight into his complex works then don't read this. It is that simple. The value of this text is in how convincingly and seamlessly Greenblatt recreates a complex, ambiguous , and richly textured life of the world's greatest writer by demonstrating a close reading of the world's greatest literary works. Any biography that enhances my appreciation for the works of Shakespeare has done its job, and this bio certainly accomplished that!
Greenblatt especially shines in his detailing of many historical events that receive little attention in the typical American education, and in his sublime rendering of Shakespeare's greatest accomplishment, his creation of Hamlet and his perfecting of the interior voice of character in dramatic literature.
An eminently readable and well organized text. If you read it and then rethink, and reread, some of Shakespeare's works than I am sure Greenblatt has met his goal.
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