The Year of Lear: Shakespeare in 1606 - Hardcover

"No one writes about Shakespeare as Jim Shapiro does; it's so immediate and alive. . . . His passion for Shakespeare, his excitement and pure joy infect everyone he comes in contact with and absolutely come through in each of his books."--F. Murray Abraham

"James Shapiro's particular gift as a literary historian is to combine great good sense with daring imaginative reach--so that as we read his pages, we simultaneously look down into the workings of Shakespeare's mind, and around him at the landscape of his tumultuous times."--Andrew Motion, former poet laureate of the United Kingdom

""The Year of Lear" is a book for anyone interested in history, or literature, or in the creation of the greatest play ever written."--Richard Eyre, former director of the National Theatre (London)

"The Year of Lear" is a masterpiece, weaving together brilliant historical insight with acute literary analysis. James Shapiro is one of our great Shakespearean scholars, but he is also a master storyteller. . . . This book belongs on the very short shelf of required Shakespearean texts. Anyone who wonders whether Shakespeare still matters to us will find a resounding 'yes' in The Year of Lear.""--Oskar Eustis, Artistic Director of the Public Theater

"Shapiro's investigation of Shakespeare's professional fortunes is as fascinating as his scrutiny of the plays. . . . [His book] draws on a mountain of reading, yet is persistently original. It takes us onto the streets of Shakespeare's London, and it reminds us of the brutal culture from which his plays sprang."--John Carey "The Sunday Times (UK) "

No one writes about Shakespeare as Jim Shapiro does; it's so immediate and alive. . . . His passion for Shakespeare, his excitement and pure joy infect everyone he comes in contact with and absolutely come through in each of his books. --F. Murray Abraham"

"James Shapiro s insightful new book, "The Year of Lear: Shakespeare in 1606, " performs a kind of archaeological excavation of the three plays Shakespeare wrote in this year "King Lear, Macbeth, " and "Antony and Cleopatra " to reveal the rich matrix of factors that molded their themes and language."--Nick Romeo "The Christian Science Monitor ""

The Year of Lear" is a masterpiece, weaving together brilliant historical insight with acute literary analysis. James Shapiro is one of our great Shakespearean scholars, but he is also a master storyteller. . . . This book belongs on the very short shelf of required Shakespearean texts. Anyone who wonders whether Shakespeare still matters to us will find a resounding yes in The Year of Lear." --Oskar Eustis, Artistic Director of the Public Theater"

"Probing and original. . . . Shapiro shows how [Shakespeare] was not only for all time, but also very much of his age."--Sameer Rahim "Prospect (UK) "

James Shapiro s particular gift as a literary historian is to combine great good sense with daring imaginative reach so that as we read his pages, we simultaneously look down into the workings of Shakespeare s mind, and around him at the landscape of his tumultuous times. --Andrew Motion, former poet laureate of the United Kingdom"

Preeminent Shakespeare scholar James Shapiro shows how the tumultuous events in England in 1606 affected Shakespeare and shaped the three great tragedies he wrote that year—King Lear, Macbeth, and Antony and Cleopatra.

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.

It was a memorable year in England as well—and a grim one, in the aftermath of a terrorist plot conceived by a small group of Catholic gentry that had been uncovered at the last hour. The foiled Gunpowder Plot would have blown up the king and royal family along with the nation’s political and religious leadership. The aborted plot renewed anti-Catholic sentiment and laid bare divisions in the kingdom.

It was against this background that Shakespeare finished Lear, a play about a divided kingdom, then wrote a tragedy that turned on the murder of a Scottish king, Macbeth. He ended this astonishing year with a third masterpiece no less steeped in current events and concerns: 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.