A. D. Nuttall’s study of Shakespeare’s intellectual preoccupations is a literary tour de force and comes to crown the distinguished career of a Shakespeare scholar. Certain questions engross Shakespeare from his early plays to the late romances: the nature of motive, cause, personal identity and relation, the proper status of imagination, ethics and subjectivity, language and its capacity to occlude and to communicate. Yet Shakespeare’s thought, Nuttall demonstrates, is anything but static. The plays keep returning to, modifying, and complicating his creative preoccupations. Nuttall allows us to hear and appreciate the emergent cathedral choir of play speaking to play. By the later stages of Nuttall’s book this choir is nearly overwhelming in its power and dimensions. The author does not limit discussion to moments of crucial intellection but gives himself ample space in which to get at the distinctive essence of each work. Much recent historicist criticism has tended to “flatten” Shakespeare by confining him to the thought-clichés of his time, and this in its turn has led to an implicitly patronizing view of him as unthinkingly racist, sexist, and so on. Nuttall shows us that, on the contrary, Shakespeare proves again and again to be more intelligent and perceptive than his 21st-century readers. This book challenges us to reconsider the relation of great literature to its social and historical matrix. It is also, perhaps, the best guide to Shakespeare’s plays available in English.
Into the mind of Shakespeare ^ Fantastic read. Focuses on 12-15 of the plays. Couldn't put this down. Highly recommended.
didn't recieve item ^ I didn't recieve the item, and they never responded after two emails indicating a problem.
Shakespeare the Wonder ^ After reading this excellent book, my first thought was one of admiration for Shakespeare that he can provide so much interesting material for so many. Nuttall by no means exhausted the thematic possibilities of any of the plays but found very interesting questions in all of them. But actually not everyone who writes about Shakespeare writes interesting or memorable stuff, it takes what actually is a rare combination of good education, common sense and an open, alive mind. So even though there is an astounding amount of insight in the plays, not every commentator derives and gives us something of value.
I didn't agree with all his points but they are all honest questions: not self-serving and very little arguing with his colleagues. The question of The Tempest and nihilism is quite provocative. I suppose in the way that Buddhism is nihilistic, nihilism leading to transcendent joy, yes, he's right. Well, you'll read it and decide for yourself.
He writes in the Coda: "The universe is infinitely recessive to the understanding. It will not provide the thing that philosophers cannot help pursuing: the Answer." This is a very good formulation of our situation: we can't help wanting to have the conclusive view - and in fact we can't help assuming at any particular moment that we've got it already. It's natural to try to establish equilibrium. Still, for us, the truth of things comes as gnawing doubt, as a question. It's not truth but it's the accepting to entertain an opposing view, sensation, fact or feeling.
These are essays provoked by long acquaintance with Shakespeare, Plato and Western thought in general. It's not an introduction to Shakespeare. It's really only for people who love these plays.
A Valuable Companion ^ What makes this book especially valuable to me is that A.D. Nuttall brought not only a lifetime of reading and discussion of the plays, but a lifetime of seeing them performed.
This book has already proven to be an excellent companion when considering a specific play (using the Index helped), especially before and after seeing a new production. The contexts and meanings of the histories so remote in time and place are especially useful.
Nuttall writes with fearless precision that honors the best academic standards, yet in an almost conversational style. He writes about nearly all the plays, and his approach is variously appropriate to that particular play as well as its relationship to the others, to its "type," to Shakespeare's times and what we know about him. He does not shrink from the issues which certain plays raise for 21st century audiences: the role of women within marriage in "The Taming of the Shrew", for example. Other commentators may suggest that Kate's submission is meant ironically, but Nuttall does not take that easy escape.
I'm not a Shakespeare scholar, and I don't agree with all of Nuttall's interpretations, but that's the joy of Shakespeare--the dialogue with the plays can be endless. For reference and for reading, I will be returning to "Shakespeare the Thinker."
A Great Forest ^ That Harold Bloom sees A.D. Nuttall as his hero should be a tip-off to potential buyers of this book: it is not one for the average reader (like me).
There is no doubt that the author is a scholar of the first rank. However, this book is written for his fellow scholars and those intense amateurs who have a good existing command over the full breadth of William Shakespeare's many plays.
I was disappointed since the title seems to indicate there would be a more overt and accessible discussion of the thought patterns of the great playwright. Instead I entered a great forest, which as Professor Nuttall notes, "is a place to get lost in."
Anything Goes Trivia
Trevor
Megaton Man
