Customer Reviews
Seminal year, seminal study - By: Jon Chambers, 15 Aug 2008 
No cradle-to-grave study, this book takes a radically different approach to biography by focusing on a single year. Sounds bizarre, but it works.
1599 was an eventful Elizabethan year. It witnessed, among other things, the building of the Globe, Essex's campaignin Ireland, the phoney ('invisible') Spanish Armada & endless speculation about the succession. Shapiro chooses to put this particular yearin the spotlight not just because of its historical richness but because it was, he suggests, the decisive yearin Shakespeare's development as a writer. Here, he isin agreement with Frank Kermode who,in 'Shakespeare's Language' (2000), reaches a similar conclusion.
'1599' is a book with many virtues, not least of which is a readability & accessibility that make it ideal for both general & student reading. It has pace, structure & a wonderfully lucid & engaging style. It is particularly interesting when making unlikely assertions. We all know that Shakespeare wrote 'romantic' comedies, unlike the 'realistic' ones of Jonson, Middleton et al. But Shapiro tells us, on the basis of its historically informed details, that As You Like It possesses a new & occasionally gritty realism. As well as its cross-dressing, sylvan setting, pastoral singing & happy ending, the satirical voices of Touchstone & Jaques exploit the vogue for malcontented social criticism created by Jonson's 'humour' play of 1599. And he thinks it no coincidence that Rosalind should enter the forest of Arden disguised as a soldier, many of whom would have been seen disconsolately returning home from the ill-fated Irish campaign that summer.
Shapiro makes the excellent point that we need to look beyond printed material to get a fuller idea of Shakespeare's sources - beyond the likes of Holinshed, Plutarch & Lodge,in other words. Elizabethan culture was largely oral/aural & only rarely literary, resultingin prodigious & retentive memories. The most famous preacher of the day was Lancelot Andrewes, who gave the Lenten sermon at Richmond Palacein 1599, where Shakespeare just happened to be performing for the court. By chance, Andrewes's text has survived, enabling Shapiro to identify verbal echoes between it & some of the opening exchangesin Henry V.
Admittedly, one reason why Shapiro is so convincing may be his tendency to present supposition as fact. 'Shakespeare was caught upin writing As You Like It pretty clearly by late summer 1599...' And a few pages later, 'The first role he would create for Armin would be Touchstone.' Yet it is by no means certain that Shakespeare hadn't already written AYLin 1598 (as the new Arden edition considers probable) or that the role of Touchstone wasn'tin fact played by Kemp before his imminent departure from the Chamberlain's Men, as Arden again argues.
But Shapiro's ideas are at the very least plausible as well as intriguing. He tells us, for example, that before turning to the theatre Robert Armin had trained as a goldsmith - whose professional emblem was a touchstone! Whether a fortunate coincidence or an in-joke enabling us to chart the comings & goings of the Chamberlain's Men there's ultimately no telling, but it is a fascinating detail characteristic of an outstanding book. '1599' represents a successful & innovative approach to Shakespearean biography.
Brilliant - By: Nicholas Whyte, 09 Mar 2008 Shapiro has done a brilliant job of painting a picture of Londonin 1599, the year that Shakespeare wrote Henry V, Julius Caesar, As You Like It & started on Hamlet, going through as many surviving books & documents from that year as possible, mooring his narrative quite firmlyin what facts we have, frank about the extent to which he is speculating when he does.
For those who are not London residents (maybe even for those who are) the first interesting page is the very first, with a map of Londonin 1599. There's a bit of cognitive dissonance at seeing Whitehall & Westminster so far outside the old city limits. And while I knew that the Tower roughly marked one end of the City, I didn't realise that St Paul's marked pretty much the other end. Even by Pepys' day, sixty years later, a lot of the West End had been built over. Shakespeare's generation must have been the last for whom Lincoln's Inn Fields really were fields.
Ireland also looms heavilyin the story. Here you had a seemingly unending overseas conflict pitting English soldiers against bitter & successful insurgents, to the point that the government as a whole was becoming deeply discredited by its failure to win & the waste of money & soldiers.
Original take on life and times - By: G. L. Haggett, 25 Oct 2007 
This is a detailed take on the life, times & works of William Shakespeare, which, originally & to its eternal credit, focuses on one year of a productive life, the yearin which he wrote "Hamlet", amongst other things. Shakespeare is put into his artistic, religious & historical context.
While the research put into this book is prodigious, it does not weigh the book down; it is perfectly accessible to the layman, & provides an interesting counterpoint to Bill Bryson's recent effort. Both authors are unafraid to admit the paucity of the source materials available & are perfectly happy to acknowledge the impossibility of any form of academic certainty. How refreshing.
Dry but superbly researched - By: F. Samara, 19 Oct 2007 Shapiro's book is occasionally brilliant & always richin detail. Startingin the winter of 1598/1599, the striking first image (the players of Shakespeare's Chamberlain's Men company, with Shakespeare likely one of them, descendin the night as a fully armed gang intent on dismbembering a theatre) is met with some startling insights into the creative process, but too often flows into a dry academic vocabulary.
This book, nonetheless, is extraordinarily successful at showing us the moods & currents of the epoch & how these inter-linking themesin the general culture influenced Shakespearein a very productive year - & the year of the building of the Globe Theatre itself, the incubator of so much of Shakespeare's future inspiration (and, as a share-holder therein, the source of some considerable wealth for this Stratford-man done well).
Particularly noteworthy is the evocation of Elizabethan court life & the teasing out of influences on playwrights & poets that resulted from the complex power-struggles of the nobility & monarchy. Great sensitivity is shown, for example,in analysing aspects of "Hamlet" & "Julius Caesar" that derive from this hothouse milieu.
Why is this book disappointing despite its many strengths? Alas, there is something dry & inconclusive to Shapiro's work despite the sprawling review of Shakespearian mores & customs it encompasses. Shapiro is rightly wary of venturing into speculation as to the motives of Shakespeare as an individual, but this reduces a sense of clear argument within the book for all its strengh as a source of anecdotes. In comparison, & also pursuing an unorthodox but revealing analysis of the Shakespearian era, Germaine Greer's "Shakespeare's Wife" is a glittering corrective & points the way to the kind of book that this could have been - strongly argued, also richly researched but filled with a passion that Shapiro rarely aspires to. "1599" is an excellent academic tool & shows a fascinating approach, butin the end, is likely to faintly disappoint a general reader.
A Winner: The World's Leading Literary Figure Centre Stage - By: N. J. Freedman, 26 Jul 2007 England was at war with the Irish, a second Armada was expected any time & it was so cold the Thames froze. Oh, yes, Queen Elizabeth was on the throne but she was ageing & childless & potential successors were lining up. Yet it was to prove a great year for literature because William Shakespeare was creating some of his greatest works, Henry the Fifth, Julius Caesar, Hamlet & As You Like It. It was a time when to displease The Queen could be fatal & when the Lord Chamberlain censored books & plays, a sort of Elizabethan political correctness. Many a slip twix pen & paper could prove costly, particularly as Shakespeare & his like relied heavily on material provided by national & Court events. He invented new words and, of course, over the centuries since his death, the language has changed & so have the meanings, which is why many modern people find The Bard difficult to understand. The Cote d'Azur Men's Book Club, learned chaps all, had no such trouble & voted New York professor James Shapiro's saga, "l599: A Yearin the Life of William Shakespeare", a winner.
Shapiro focuses on Shakespeare's work & his environment rather than his domestic life, & Shapiro's prose, coupled with one's imagination, brings the Elizabethan era vividly to life. The Earl of Essex is a ghostly figure well before he had his head chopped off by The Queen he professed to love. A ghostly figure not quitein the same context as Hamlet's father, but maybe Essex was someone who gave Shakespeare much food for thought. These were not peaceful times; the manin the street & thousands like him were pressed into Army service & many were ambushed & massacred by Lord Tyrone's bloodthirsty Irish soldiers.
The book works well at three levels, placing Shakespearein the context of Elizabethan England & its social, political & theatrical environment, about which there is enough for all tastes. Shapiro shrewdly picks his way through the streets of London, following the writers, the fools, the courtiers & The Queen. He has written a book full of detail, that captures the sense & feel of the era, & it puts the world's leading literary figure back where he belongs, centre stage. Francis Bacon gets a few mentions, but the author does not subscribe to the controversial opinion that Bacon penned some of Shakespeare's plays. Is this a dagger I see before me? Quite so.
