'King Lear' scene by scene 2
The second talk in the series King Lear scene by scene looks at Act 1 scene 2, in which we are introduced to the sub-plot (unique in Shakespeare's tragedies), starting with the fascinating villain Edmund.
Read MoreJames Shapiro at the Dalkey Book Festival
A brief account of James Shapiro’s appearance with Fintan O’Toole at the 2024 Dalkey Book Festival.
Read MoreBooks of the Year, 2020
An annual personal choice of books of the year.
Read MoreJames Shapiro on 'King Lear'
James Shapiro’s outstanding 1606: Shakespeare and the year of Lear, is a great resource for teachers of the play, as well as of the other two plays Shakespeare wrote in that extraordinary period, Macbeth and Antony and Cleopatra. Here are some notes that refer to Lear, especially from the chapter ‘Leir to Lear’, in which Shapiro examines how Shakespeare reshaped the main source text, King Leir.
Read MoreJames Shapiro on Manifest Destiny
James Shapiro is a superb analyst of Shakespeare. In a recent podcast interview by Peter Moore from Travels from Time he concentrates on one year, 1845 (of course, Shapiro has written book-length studies of 1599 and 1606), including two extraordinary stories: Ulysses S. Grant’s casting as Desdemona and Charlotte Cushman’s performance as Romeo.
Read MoreShakespeare in a Divided America
James Shapiro’s latest book, Shakespeare in a Divided America, is brilliant reading. Shapiro skilfully shows how Shakespeare has been ‘present’ in so many of the most important moments in American life.
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