1599: A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare: Winner of the Baillie Gifford Winner of Winners Award 2023 by James ShapiroMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Absorbing account of a pivotal year in Shakespeare’s career. Shapiro’s aggressively contextualist approach yields plenty of insights, not least a plausible conjecture on the reason behind not featuring Falstaff in Henry V, and possible sources for the development of Hamlet’s interiority. My favourite is the analysis of As You Like It in comparison with Shakespeare’s revision of his sonnets. Like with Year of Lear I hope Shapiro continues in this vein – I nominate 1595 for another project covering the events that surrounded the composition of Romeo & Juliet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Richard II.
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