Shakespeare Our Contemporary

The value of this very influential book to an individual reader will depend greatly on what that reader hopes to find in it. Someone looking for close, accurate handling of Shakespeare's texts, and thus for reliable guidance on what is found in them, will most of the time feel disappointed: for a book taken so seriously by so many, the criticism on display is actually often surprisingly loose, vague, and general.The importance... Read Full Review

This is not - repeat not - necessarily a call for the Midsummer Night's Dream fairies to be played as a motorcycle gang, Richard III to be played as Hitler or Romeo to shoot up instead of drink poison - although this book has inspired all of the above. It is, however, a brilliant call for actors and directors to bring their life experience to Shakespeare.In Kott's case, this means life under communist Poland. He identifies... Read Full Review

This is a book of interpretive essays about many, but not all, of Shakespeare's plays. Other than Harold Goddard's The Meaning of Shakespeare, this is the best book of Shakespearean criticism I've read. Written in plain, but elegant prose, these essays reveal a darker Shakespeare than most commentators admit. Kott was a fighter in the Polish resistance and assumes Shakespeare must have had knowledge of political repression... Read Full Review