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This Is Shakespeare
Was Shakespeare a timeless prophet, a verbal innovator, a technical genius, a man who encapsulated the human condition as no one else has? Well, sort of. But, according to Emma Smith, so much of what we are taught about Shakespeare is either not exactly true, or not important. She argues that it is precisely the Bard's inconsistencies and ambiguities that fuel his enduring relevance and power. Smith brings us into the world Shakespeare inhabited as he emulated his blockbuster rivals and flirted with dangerous issues of succession politics, religious upheaval, and technological change. Time and again Shakespeare poses awkward questions rather than offering simple answers, always implicating us in working out their significance. Smith writes in strikingly modern ways about individual agency, privacy, politics, celebrity, and sex. She pulls the Bard down off his high pedestal and into the messy scuffle for meaning where he actually lived and where his words are still vibrant and vital for us now.
Book Details
- Publisher: Vintage
- Publish Date: Feb 16th, 2021
- Pages: 368
- Language: English
- Edition: undefined - undefined
- Dimensions: 8.00in - 5.20in - 1.10in - 0.66lb
- EAN: 9781984898159
- Categories: • Shakespeare• Shakespeare• English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh
About the Author
More books by Emma Smith
What people are saying
Hon Assistant Bishop, Ely. Formerly Mission Theologian Anglican Com; Bishop of Sherborne;Vicar of Islington; founder @CCCWCambridge;VP St Andrew’s Kabare, Kenya
‘Gappiness is #Shakespeare’s dominant and defining characteristic. And ambiguity is the oxygen of these works, making them alive in unpredictable and changing ways.’ Emma Smith (@OldFortunatus) @HertfordCollege, #Oxford, in her ‘This is Shakespeare’ p. 3. https://t.co/FmbLHWuaGH
Highlights from the PW Reviews department, which reviews about 9,000 books per year, tweeted by the editors: reviews, author interviews and profiles.
'Portable Magic: A History of Books and Their Readers' by Emma Smith. “All books are magic. All books have agency and power in the real world,” writes Shakespeare scholar Smith ('This Is Shakespeare') in this entertaining history. https://t.co/w2xhoYYyig https://t.co/Eslg83R6US
The world's largest Shakespeare collection — plus, home to Folger Theatre, Consort, Poetry, Exhibitions, Research, Education, and more!
In "This is Shakespeare" Emma Smith (@oldfortunatus) writes that the longevity of Shakespeare's plays is a function of their "gappiness": the unknowable elements and unanswered questions that require us to insert our own readings.
Praise for this book
"Anyone who doesn't understand what all the fuss is about should read This Is Shakespeare. Smith--who is no enemy of fun: her book fizzes with jokes--is celebrating a Shakespeare who talks to the present. She does it all with such a light touch you barely notice how much you're learning." --The Guardian
"Cuts through the accumulated crust of 'schoolroom platitudes, ' cant, and literary piety in order to dust Shakespeare off and see him as he is, was, and might be." --The Daily Telegraph (London)
"Quirky, brilliant. . . . [Smith] sees the plays as almost organic: not only contradictory but alive." --Spectator
"An exemplary job of restoring the greatest of English writers to his own time, and explaining why he then speaks to ours. . . . An invigorating examination." --The Times (London)
"Intriguing . . . Smith argues that the defining characteristic of Shakespeare's plays is their 'permissive gappiness.' This must also surely be the first book on Shakespeare to use the slang term 'woke.'" --Evening Standard (London)
"I admire the freshness and attack of her writing, the passion and curiosity that light up the page." --Hilary Mantel, author of Wolf Hall
"If I were asked to recommend one guide for readers keen on discovering what's at stake in Shakespeare's plays, This Is Shakespeare would be it." --James Shapiro, author of The Year of Lear: Shakespeare in 1606
What people are saying
Hon Assistant Bishop, Ely. Formerly Mission Theologian Anglican Com; Bishop of Sherborne;Vicar of Islington; founder @CCCWCambridge;VP St Andrew’s Kabare, Kenya
‘Gappiness is #Shakespeare’s dominant and defining characteristic. And ambiguity is the oxygen of these works, making them alive in unpredictable and changing ways.’ Emma Smith (@OldFortunatus) @HertfordCollege, #Oxford, in her ‘This is Shakespeare’ p. 3. https://t.co/FmbLHWuaGH
Highlights from the PW Reviews department, which reviews about 9,000 books per year, tweeted by the editors: reviews, author interviews and profiles.
'Portable Magic: A History of Books and Their Readers' by Emma Smith. “All books are magic. All books have agency and power in the real world,” writes Shakespeare scholar Smith ('This Is Shakespeare') in this entertaining history. https://t.co/w2xhoYYyig https://t.co/Eslg83R6US