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Shakespeare at work. On J. Shapiro’s book A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare: 1599
https://doi.org/10.31425/0042-8795-2022-3-133-179
Abstract
The article prefaces the publication of chapter 8 (Is This a Holiday?) from J. Shapiro’s book on W. Shakespeare and examines the architecture of the intellectual docu-novel which carefully reconstructs a period in the English playwright’s life and work and shows how the social and political developments of the Elizabethan era as well as specific facts of the Bard’s biography found their way into Shakespeare’s plays dated 1599. Drawing on documentary evidence, Shapiro pieces together the events of the year that marked a turning point in Shakespeare’s work. In terms of its genre, the book follows the traditions of W. Scott’s historical novels. The author succeeds in rendering the spirit of the daily life in a 16th-c. London, and discusses, along with Shakespeare’s plays, the city’s news and gossip, sermons and pamphlets, as well as curious incidents at the court theatre, etc. On the whole, Shapiro paints a portrait of a playwright who shuns debauched London pastimes.
Keywords
W. Shakespeare,
J. Shapiro,
Essex,
Elizabeth I,
Julius Caesar,
Henry V,
As You Like It,
Hamlet,
New Historicism,
Stratfordians,
a genre
About the Author
E. M. Lutsenko
Russian State University for the Humanities;
Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Elena M. Lutsenko –Candidate of Philology
6 Miusskaya Sq., Moscow, 125993
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Review
For citations:
Lutsenko E.M. Shakespeare at work. On J. Shapiro’s book A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare: 1599. Voprosy literatury. 2022;(3):133-179. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.31425/0042-8795-2022-3-133-179
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