Tuesday, June 29, 2021

Book Note: Her Infinite Variety: Stories of Shakespeare and the Women he Loved

Berkman, Pamela Rafael. Her Infinite Variety: Stories of Shakespeare and the Women he Loved. New York: Scribner Paperback Fiction, 2001.

This is one of those books that hung around for a while until I felt guilty enough to read it. It's a collection of imaginative short stories about the women in Shakespeare's life—Anne, Judith, the Dark Lady, et cetera. And it includes short stories about the fictional women in Shakespeare's life—Ophelia, Titania, and others.

The stories vary quite a bit. Some are remarkably tedious while others have sparks of genuine interest.

I gravitated toward the stories about characters. For example, here's Titania's story, in which we learn that her fairy powers and her hatred of the "falling in love with a donkey" plot point combine to bring a very particular curse on Shakespeare's head:


The Ophelia story also has some interest:


There you have it. Some points of interest are to be found here, but the volume won't become a mainstay in my Modern Shakespearean Fiction class.

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