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    The Year of Lear: Shakespeare in 1606
    The Year of Lear: Shakespeare in 1606
    The Year of Lear: Shakespeare in 1606
    Audiobook11 hours

    The Year of Lear: Shakespeare in 1606

    Written by James Shapiro

    Narrated by Robert Fass

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    About this audiobook

    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.

    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.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateJan 26, 2016
    ISBN9781515971405
    Author

    James Shapiro

    James Shapiro, aprofessor at Columbia University in New York, is the author of Rival Playwrights, Shakespeare and the Jews, and Oberammergau.

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    Reviews for The Year of Lear

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    • 5/5
      I am a Shakespeare professor at a private university and I learned so much. Shapiro share expertly researched history in a lively way and relates events to Shakespeare's plays insightfully. I will never think about Lear, Macbeth, or Antony and Cleopatra the same way again.
    • 5/5
      An excellent story, well told. Who knew that history could be so clear, so lucid, and so compelling. I could not put this down.

      Rather than recap the book, I'll just say, "read it" and enjoy.
    • 4/5
      Intriguing picture of the tensions in early Jacobean England and how closely WS was linked to the Gunpowder Plot (geographically not conspiratorially). Slightly less satisfying than some of Shapiro's other books (1599 and Contested Will were better). Too much detail about the Plot and the grisly punishment of the plotters, bit too much textual analysis that doesn't move the social/literary nexus forward; too much "WS may have thought... may have done..."
    • 4/5
      A Good Year for Shakespeare but an Awful One for England: “1606: William Shakespeare and the Year of Lear” by James Shapiro Published 2015.



      “Faith, here’s an equivocator, that could swear in both the scales against either scale, who committed treason enough for God’s sake, yet could not equivocate to heaven.”

      In Macbeth, “1606: William Shakespeare and the Year of Lear” by James Shapiro


      In the last 2 years I've been thinking a lot about Shakespeare. One of the things that always bothers me is this: "If all of Shakespeare's works and words somehow disappeared from the Earth today (due to a Bard-targeting virus or something), it would be as if his works still existed."

      I'll try not to be snarky, but please read this in your nicest teacher's voice.

      The answer to the conundrum is yes. He'd still exist because his words exist in everything we have. By contrast, if Nicholas Sparks were to disappear tomorrow, along with all his books and the movies directly made from his books, future generations would never know he existed. His influence on humanity, culture, and history has been, let's say, minimal.

      If you're into Shakespeare and his influence on what it means to be human, read on.
    • 4/5
      A rewarding book, putting King Lear, Macbeth, and Antony and Cleopatra into the context of James I's agenda for the Union of his kingdoms (not to be realized until Queen Anne's day, and in a completely different context) and the Gunpowder Plot of 1605.It has been a commonplace for years that Macbeth is an extended act of attention towards James, both in his interest in the supernatural and as a Aeneid-style reference to an imperial future for Banquo's heirs (implying James == Augustus, which is pretty much how James liked to see himself, following in the footsteps of Elizabeth I as Astraea). Shapiro delves into this in detail, and into the ways in which the change in court environment (and patronage for Shakespeare's company) following James' succession on the death of Elizabeth shaped the plays Shakespeare was composing.The discussion of Lear is enlightening, especially with regard to how the changes following the exposure of the Gunpowder Plot affected the two texts we have of Lear (Quarto and Folio), and the placing of Antony and Cleopatra into the context of how the monarchs' reflections in the plays affected what was acceptable (Elizabeth - Cleopatra and James - Octavius) at various times.Like his earlier book on 1599, this is "old" historicism at its best -- allowing the environment of the time to cast light on the works produced. It effects no revolution in our understanding of Shakespeare, but deepens our understanding of critical details in the works.
    • 5/5
      An excellent book; Shapiro has made the case elsewhere that Shakespeare should be considered as much a Jacobean writer as an Elizabethan one. This is of course true, and in 1606, Shapiro expertly weaves together the historical and contextual threads that made the 3 plays written, or at least probably first performed in 1606, such an essential part of the canon. King Lear, the plot appropriated from the work of a rival company, but a play turned upside down to illuminate the discussions and fears of an impending act of union (which ultimately didn't happen) and with an ending that for many years was too harsh for the average play goer to cope with. Macbeth, the Scottish play, in which James i actually appears, with its many references to the Gunpowder Plot of 1605 (incidentally killing yet again the nonsensical idea that the dead Edward de Vere could somehow have written these plays) and particularly to the worrying Popish concept of "equivocation" with its potential to undermine dealings between honest men. Shapiro's chapter on equivocation may be the best thing he has ever written. And Antony and Cleopatra, a lesser play in every way to the above, and one in which although Shakespeare deals in interesting ways with the main characters romance (they never appear alone on stage, soliloquies are few and far between) still feels out of step with his development as a playwrightThis is an engrossing book. Shapiro is hampered by a problem that will probably never now be resolved; the fact that there is very little information on about Shakespeare's personal life, politics, or motivations. Noone at the time thought it was worth recording - or if they did, that documentation hasn't survived. So Shapiro is forced to make circumstantial arguments; The Gunpowder Plot could have touched his life - many of the principals had connections to the Warwickshire area, and he probably knew at least some of them. He could have been touched by plague; there is a strong possibility that plague made it to the house he was lodging in. He may have been touched by religious controversy; his daughter Susana appears in the records as not appearing in church. Yet we will never have good answers to any questions about the personal Will. Shapiro does his best, and makes some interesting suggestions, but the book is at its strongest when it focuses on the text of the plays, and in this area Shapiro is a master forensic analyst.An excellent book
    • 4/5
      A story of suicidal bombers inspired by religious zealotry*, brutal public executions**, religious leaders inspiring followers to treason*** and nationalists versus immigrants****.No, this isn't about ISIS in Iraq & Syria and immigrant-phobia in 2016, this was Jacobean England in 1606!Even if James Shapiro wasn't thinking of these modern day parallels while writing “The Year of Lear: Shakespeare in 1606” it is impossible to read it now and not think about them. Regardless of Shapiro’s speculations on when and where Shakespeare wrote “King Lear”, “Macbeth” and “Antony and Cleopatra” there is no getting away from the post-Gunpowder Plot atmosphere of England in 1606 which is generally accepted as the latest year they were written. Add a July 1606 Plague outbreak in London to the mix and then think of modern day pandemic fears to further complete the parallel.Shapiro can certainly be accused of wide-ranging speculation. A group of Oxfordians even wrote a rebuttal to the present book with "Contested Year: Errors, Omissions and Unsupported Statements in James Shapiro's "The Year of Lear: Shakespeare in 1606", which would also seem to serve as payback for Shapiro's "Contested Will: Who Wrote Shakespeare?" which debunked the case for Edward de Vere, Earl of Oxford as the writer of Shakespeare).Still, this is an entertaining story of life in England in 1606 and the atmosphere during which Shakespeare lived and worked in the latter part of his career.* The Gunpowder Plot was a Catholic plan to blow up the Protestant King James I (and James VI of Scotland) and the Houses of Parliament with 36 barrels of gunpowder hidden in the cellar. It was foiled on Nov. 5, 1605 with the capture of Guy Fawkes, who was to set off the gunpowder.** To be hanged, drawn and quartered sounds bad enough. That description actually leaves out the parts about castration and disembowelment.*** Henry Garnet, the Jesuit superior of England, was tried and executed for treason for complicity in the Gunpowder Plot and for writing a treatise on equivocation, which instructed Catholics on how to lie under oath by omitting details of the truth.**** “To blow you Scotch beggars back to your native mountains.” was Guy Fawkes’ reported response to his interrogators as to what he planned to do with all that gunpowder.
    • 5/5
      For anyone who has an interest in William Shakespeare's rise to fame this will be the one for you.
      His King Lear version of an Elizabethan play in 1606 was a turning point. It was the beginning of a long and successful career as a playwrite.
      A highly entertaining book.
      This digital copy was given to me by the publisher via Netgalley in return for an honest unbiased review.
    • 4/5
      an excellent book, what an amazing and productive year shakespeare had in 1604! wrote lear, macbeth and antony and cleopatra. this book shows how much those plays reflected current events of that year. for shakespeare lovers this is a must read
    • 5/5
      Nine years ago James Shapiro won the Samuel Johnson Prize for '1599: A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare', and enthralling account of a hectic year for The Bard during which, astoundingly, he wrote 'Julius Caesar', 'Henry V', 'As You Like It' and, as if those three weren't enough to be going on with, 'Hamlet'.This latest book takes a similar approach with 1606, giving a detailed account of the events of the year and detailing what is known of Shakespeare's contributions to them, and his unflagging output. 1606 would see him writing both 'King Lear' and 'Macbeth'.The previous year had, of course, been one of major upset, culminating in the Gunpowder Plot and the narrowly averted conspiracy to kill the King and destroy Parliament. Indeed, if the thirty six barrels of gunpowder had exploded the likely death toll would have reached into the thousands. Against that context Shakespeare (who had family connections that reached close to the Gunpowder plot conspirators though his roots in Warwickshire) had to demonstrate mastery of nuance when writing about the assassination of another Scottish King in 'Macbeth'.Another divisive issue, with strong resonances for the present day, was the question of the Union between England and Scotland. King James was monarch of both (and also claimed both Ireland and France within his demesne) and felt considerable pressure to formalise the union between the two nations. The terms 'United Kingdom' and 'Great Britain' are first recoded during the early years of James's reign, and the Union Flag made its first appearance in 1605.This was the context against which Shakespeare has the ageing Lear embarking upon the division of his kingdom, with such disastrous consequences. There are oblique references to James's dilemma. Goneril's husband, who eventually (belatedly?) comes good is the Duke of Albany, which was then a frequent cognomen for Scotland. After being rejected by her father, Cordelia marries the King of France, another character who rejects the evil that pervades the whole play.Shapiro has, for a second time, pulled off the rare feat of producing a work of deep scholarship that is not merely accessible but engrossing for the lay reader. I am already wondering which year he will choose next.