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The Year of Lear: Shakespeare in 1606 Audiobook
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In the years leading up to 1606, since the death of Queen Elizabeth and the arrival in England of her successor, King James of Scotland, Shakespeare's great productivity had ebbed, and it may have seemed to some that his prolific genius was a thing of the past. But that year, at age forty-two, he found his footing again, finishing a play he had begun the previous autumn—King Lear—then writing two other great tragedies, Macbeth and Antony and Cleopatra.
The Year of Lear sheds light on these three great tragedies by placing them in the context of their times, while also allowing us greater insight into how Shakespeare was personally touched by such events as a terrible outbreak of plague and growing religious divisions. For anyone interested in Shakespeare, this is an indispensable book.
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"[Shapiro's] well-written, scholarly exploration will stand as an influential work that is a joy to read."
— Kirkus Starred Review
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About James Shapiro
James Shapiro has written several award-winning books on Shakespeare, including The Year of Lear: Shakespeare in 1606, which won the James Tait Black Prize and the Sheridan Morley Prize. His essays and reviews have appeared in the New York Times, the London Guardian, and the London Review of Books, among other places. In 2011, he was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He has been awarded fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Guggenheim Foundation, and The New York Public Library’s Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers. He serves on the board of directors of the Royal Shakespeare Company, and he is currently the Shakespeare Scholar in Residence at the Public Theater in New York City. He is the Larry Miller Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University, where he has taught since 1985.
About Robert Fass
Robert Fass is a veteran actor and twice winner of the prestigious Audie Award for best narration. He has earned multiple Earphones Awards and been named in AudioFile magazine’s list of the year’s best narrations for six years.