Shakespeare the Thinker
£7.85
a great, great book - I had been reading through a number of very good books on Shakespeare over the last couple of years, starting with James Shapiro s terrific Shakespeare and the Jews and 1599, as well as Ackroyd s biography. So I m keen for a good book on Shakespeare, but want something which is accessible and human. Nuttall s book is concerned with the psychological, moral and philosphical insights underpinning Shakespeare s writing, but writes also in an historical context - commentary on the dramatist s work is complemented by reference to his forbearers in Rome and Greece, as well as his contemporaries, Nuttall also compares Shakespeare with more modern writers and thinkers on occasion, as a means to opening up the discussion without cheapening it.Get past the first chapter, with its discussion of New Historicism - and so less obviously relevant to a lay reader such as myself, though still very interesting - and this definitely is a great, great book. It is a passionate and intense and closely-argued work, which traces the development of Shakespeare s concepts of identity and self-awareness in particular through the chronology of his plays. It is also quite a moving book in the depth of thought and feeling it reveals not only on Shakespeare s part, but on Nuttall s also, especially in its sense of humour.A book I hope you ll read.