The Age of Shakespeare

January 19, 2004
While the age of Shakespeare overlapped with the both the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras, Kermode's compact, erudite appreciation of the Bard is less about Shakespeare's private life and turbulent times than his theatrical milieu and the worlds he created for the stage. Quick summaries of the pressing political issues of the Protestant Reformation and the successor Queen Elizabeth are followed by up-to-date surveys of the debates over Shakespeare's possible crypto-Catholicism and his "missing" years. But Kermode hits his stride with the plays. His breakdown of Shakespeare's artistic development and mature achievement by the various acting companies and theaters he was associated with—from the Lord Chamberlain's Company to the renamed King's Men, from the Theatre and the Rose to the Globe and Blackfriars—proves a satisfying structure to match the swift pace. Inevitably, the brevity of the Chronicles format can't provide equal time to all of Shakespeare's million-plus words of dramatic poetry, and Kermode prefers the tragedies and romances over the histories and comedies (to say nothing of the sonnets). Occasionally shifting to lectern manner, he also revisits some of his favorite tropes, which he explored in Shakespeare's Language
, such as rhetorical doubling and pairing in Hamlet
and the theme of equivocation in Macbeth
. While Ben Jonson declared, " was not for an age, but for all time!" Kermode pleasurably shows how he and his works were of their age and also transcended it.

February 15, 2004
A teacher and scholar of English literature, Kermode has written and edited numerous works on Shakespeare and other literary giants. With this work, he delves into the cultural and political scenery of Elizabethan England as Shakespeare would have known it in his lifetime. He begins with an assessment of the frailty of royal succession, the problems in establishing the Church of England, and the impact of the Reformation on everyday lives. Next we learn that Shakespeare married young, became a father, and moved from Stratford to London, keeping his private life separate from the stage. Having no luck in the poetry market, Shakespeare began writing plays; in 1598, the Globe was constructed. Kermode tells quite a bit about Shakespeare's fellow playwrights and actors, giving a concise history lesson in outdoor theater. Briefly reviewing each play, even drawing on comments from audience members who attended performances, Kermode reveals how Shakespeare became a master of the soliloquy, mixing tragedy with humor and delicately balancing political realities into his plays to please royalty and common folk alike. This short but concise work will appeal to history and theater buffs as well as Anglophiles. Because of the occasional linguistic analysis, however, it may be too in-depth for general readers.-Jaime Anderson, Cty. of Henrico P.L., VA

Copyright 2004 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 1, 2004
Adult/High School-A learned, if brief, journey through the world of William Shakespeare. Written in elegant, concise prose accessible to laypersons, the book moves quickly through the latest critical debates about the Bard's origins, and deftly summarizes the historical background of the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods in which he lived and worked. The great political and religious issues of the times are explicated clearly and linked to the development of live theater as a mainstay of English popular culture. Most outstanding are the entertaining discussions of Shakespeare's literary successes in relation to his professional associations with a succession of professional acting companies and theaters. The analyses of the magnificent language in the context of contemporary cultural assumptions, evolving styles of acting, and the physical demands of the playhouses bring readers both a broader understanding and a deeper appreciation of the playwright's artistic triumphs. Along with Kermode's equally fine Shakespeare's Language (Farrar, 2001), this is an excellent choice for students curious (or struggling) to understand what all the fuss is about the Bard of Avon.-Starr E. Smith, Fairfax County Public Library, VA

Copyright 2004 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 1, 2004
Kermode, a remnant of the seemingly vanishing breed of readable literary critics, opens his fine contribution to Modern Library's set of overviews of topics in world history with a provocative reminder: drama as a profession developed from scratch in the Elizabethan-Jacobean period. To match the astounding body of plays whose heart is the Shakespearean canon, theaters, touring companies, and the host of theatrical occupations--manager, player, costumer, set builder, scene shifter, and so on--also flowered, and Kermode touches pertinently on those technical aspects of the age of Shakespeare by noting, within the book's chronological flow, the two kinds of acting companies (made up of boy or adult players, respectively); the theater facilities; and the financing created during the period. The spine of the book, so to speak, is the life of Shakespeare, from the political and religious context into which he was born, through his professional achievements--and Kermode's analyses of the plays surely constitute what many readers will most prize in the book--to the flourishing scene from which he retired.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2004, American Library Association.)