There seems to be a developing sub-genre of popular history which takes as its departure point a particular year and then explicates its significance and interest. Distinguished members of the species include 1066 (about Anglo-Saxon England), 1215 (a revisiting of events surrounding the Magna Carta) and 1688 (an eclectic trawl through the world of William of Orange and the Dutch East India company). By keeping their focus tight these works are able to go more deeply into their subject and, within a narrow compass, avoid the superficiality which plagues much popular historical writing.
In 1599 James Shapiro gives us a lot of information about a short period in the life of William Shakespeare. In doing so, he tells us about the financial and technical context of the construction of the Globe Theatre (commencing with the liberation of its structural oak members from another theatre. Also the dismal war in Ireland which was instrumental in the downfall of the Earl of Essex; and the occasionally lethal artistic and personal rivalries of Shakespeare’s contemporaries.
1599 was a critical year for Shakespeare. It was the year he finished Henry the Fifth, and wrote Julius Caesar, As You Like It and Hamlet. The establishment of the Globe (in which he had a significant financial stake) gave him a venue at which he could develop his art beyond the English history plays and comedies which predominated in his early period.
It is trite to observe that Shakespeare was a genius. What is harder to grasp is that he was a genius who had to make a living in the dog eat dog world of Elizabethan England. It wasn’t easy being a playwright even in a time when the average punter went to see a play about once a month. Patronage was unreliable (Queens are hard to please and earls keep losing their heads); the city council kept closing theatres and the public taste was robust rather than refined.
By giving us the texture of the Elizabethan world at a particular point in time Shapiro permits a fresh insight into Shakespeare’s amazing achievement.
Reviewed by Grant Hansen
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
James Shapiro was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. Hestudied at Columbia University and the University of Chicago. He is currently Larry Miller Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University, where he has taught since 1985. In 2011 he was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
He has been awarded fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Guggenheim Foundation, and The New York Public Library Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers.
James Shapiro is currently Shakespeare Scholar in Residence at the Public Theater in New York City. He also serves on the board of the Authors Guild.
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