| 1599: A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare | 
 enlarge | Author: James Shapiro
Publisher: Faber and Faber
Category: Book
List Price: £8.99
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Avg. Customer Rating:  11 reviews
Sales Rank: 11948
Media: Paperback
Pages: 464
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 7.7 x 4.9 x 1.3
ISBN: 0571214819
EAN: 9780571214815
ASIN: 0571214819
Publication Date: April 6, 2006
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| Customer Reviews: Read 6 more reviews...
 Seminal year, seminal study August 15, 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 campaign in Ireland, the phoney ('invisible') Spanish Armada and endless speculation about the succession. Shapiro chooses to put this particular year in the spotlight not just because of its historical richness but because it was, he suggests, the decisive year in Shakespeare's development as a writer. Here, he is in 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 and accessibility that make it ideal for both general and student reading. It has pace, structure and a wonderfully lucid and 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 and occasionally gritty realism. As well as its cross-dressing, sylvan setting, pastoral singing and happy ending, the satirical voices of Touchstone and 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 and Lodge, in other words. Elizabethan culture was largely oral/aural and only rarely literary, resulting in prodigious and retentive memories. The most famous preacher of the day was Lancelot Andrewes, who gave the Lenten sermon at Richmond Palace in 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 and some of the opening exchanges in Henry V.
Admittedly, one reason why Shapiro is so convincing may be his tendency to present supposition as fact. 'Shakespeare was caught up in 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 AYL in 1598 (as the new Arden edition considers probable) or that the role of Touchstone wasn't in 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 and 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 and innovative approach to Shakespearean biography.
Brilliant March 9, 2008
Shapiro has done a brilliant job of painting a picture of London in 1599, the year that Shakespeare wrote Henry V, Julius Caesar, As You Like It and started on Hamlet, going through as many surviving books and documents from that year as possible, mooring his narrative quite firmly in 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 London in 1599. There's a bit of cognitive dissonance at seeing Whitehall and 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 heavily in the story. Here you had a seemingly unending overseas conflict pitting English soldiers against bitter and successful insurgents, to the point that the government as a whole was becoming deeply discredited by its failure to win and the waste of money and soldiers.
 Original take on life and times October 25, 2007
This is a detailed take on the life, times and works of William Shakespeare, which, originally and to its eternal credit, focuses on one year of a productive life, the year in which he wrote "Hamlet", amongst other things. Shakespeare is put into his artistic, religious and 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, and provides an interesting counterpoint to Bill Bryson's recent effort. Both authors are unafraid to admit the paucity of the source materials available and are perfectly happy to acknowledge the impossibility of any form of academic certainty. How refreshing.
Dry but superbly researched October 19, 2007
Shapiro's book is occasionally brilliant and always rich in detail. Starting in the winter of 1598/1599, the striking first image (the players of Shakespeare's Chamberlain's Men company, with Shakespeare likely one of them, descend in 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 and currents of the epoch and how these inter-linking themes in the general culture influenced Shakespeare in a very productive year - and 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 and the teasing out of influences on playwrights and poets that resulted from the complex power-struggles of the nobility and monarchy. Great sensitivity is shown, for example, in analysing aspects of "Hamlet" and "Julius Caesar" that derive from this hothouse milieu.
Why is this book disappointing despite its many strengths? Alas, there is something dry and inconclusive to Shapiro's work despite the sprawling review of Shakespearian mores and 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, and also pursuing an unorthodox but revealing analysis of the Shakespearian era, Germaine Greer's "Shakespeare's Wife" is a glittering corrective and 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 and shows a fascinating approach, but in the end, is likely to faintly disappoint a general reader.
A Winner: The World's Leading Literary Figure Centre Stage July 26, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
England was at war with the Irish, a second Armada was expected any time and it was so cold the Thames froze. Oh, yes, Queen Elizabeth was on the throne but she was ageing and childless and 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 and As You Like It. It was a time when to displease The Queen could be fatal and when the Lord Chamberlain censored books and plays, a sort of Elizabethan political correctness. Many a slip twix pen and paper could prove costly, particularly as Shakespeare and his like relied heavily on material provided by national and Court events. He invented new words and, of course, over the centuries since his death, the language has changed and 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 and voted New York professor James Shapiro's saga, "l599: A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare", a winner.
Shapiro focuses on Shakespeare's work and his environment rather than his domestic life, and 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 quite in 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 man in the street and thousands like him were pressed into Army service and many were ambushed and massacred by Lord Tyrone's bloodthirsty Irish soldiers.
The book works well at three levels, placing Shakespeare in the context of Elizabethan England and its social, political and 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 and The Queen. He has written a book full of detail, that captures the sense and feel of the era, and 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.
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