A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare: 1599

A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare: 1599, by James Shapiro. Harper Collins.

In this book, Shapiro puts forth the idea that 1599 was the year that Shakespeare went from being merely a talented dramaturgue and poet to being the greatest writer the English language has known.

Instead of defending this idea throughout, Shapiro gives an overview of the history of England in 1599, dominated by Essex' failed expedition in Ireland and the threat of attack by Spain, and how it may have affected the Bard in his quotidian life.

When he sticks to recounting history and making reasonable speculations (after all, for someone so important, relatively little is known about Shakespeare's life), Shapiro does an admirable job.

Less so, though, when gets sucked into writing literary criticism, which he does for each play of Shakespeare's first produced that year. It is in literary critic mode when Shapiro discusses Shakespeare's transformation, and that is when he impresses me least.

But maybe I just dislike literary criticism.