The Great William: Writers Reading Shakespeare, Leinwand Theodore

Theodore Leinwand builds impressively detailed accounts of these writers experiences through their marginalia, lectures, letters, journals, and reading notes. We learn why Woolf associated reading Shakespeare with her brother Thoby, and what Ginsberg meant when referring to the mouth feel of Shakespeares verse. From Hughess attempts to find a skeleton key to all of Shakespeares plays to Berrymans tormented efforts to edit King Lear, Leinwand reveals the palpable energy and conviction with which these seven writers engaged with Shakespeare, their moments of utter self-confidence and profound vexation. In uncovering these intense public and private reactions, The Great William connects major writers hitherto unremarked scenes of reading Shakespeare with our own.