Stephen Greenblatt's new book on Kit Marlowe is on my list, but that will need to wait until the library purchases a copy.
In the meantime, I'm catching up on other Greenblatt that I've missed, including Second Chances, a recent collaboration with Adam Phillips. The scheme is that both authors will deal with Freud and Shakespeare—Greenblatt using some Freudian theory to interpret Shakespeare and Phillips concentrating on analyzing Freud.
I've been puzzling over the book for a while. The second half of Second Chances (Phillips' section) is beyond me. And the first half (Greenblatt's) seems too basic.
I think Greenblatt relies too heavily of plot summary, and he does that very well—but it doesn't amount to analysis. It distills something of the genius of Shakespeare, and we all benefit from that, but it doesn't take us very far.
All the same, Greenblatt tells (or re-tells) a good story. I was struck by some of his work on The Winter's Tale in particular:
. . . and so it goes. That's fairly solid, and it's not too speculative (a common failing in Greenblatt when dealing with Shakespeare's biography).
I'm glad I read it, but I won't be going back to it.
Click below to purchase the book from amazon.com
(and to support Bardfilm as you do so).
(and to support Bardfilm as you do so).
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