Review of: James Shapiro, 1606: William Shakespeare and the Year of Lear

• Main Author: SOON, Emily
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2016
• Subjects: English Language and Literature
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/3373; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/soss_research/article/4630/viewcontent/Review_of_1606_Year_of_Lear_Emily_Soon_pvoa.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

‘For the Jacobean Shakespeare’, James Shapiro tells us, ‘no year’s output would be more extraordinary than that of 1606’. Between King James’s ascension to the English throne in 1603 and the Gunpowder Plot of late 1605, Shakespeare had penned a paltry two plays, making the speed with which he churned out three great tragedies – King Lear, Macbeth and Antony and Cleopatra – in 1606 even more impressive. After this year, Shakespeare would have two more creative periods before his death a decade later, but no single year would ever be as imaginatively fruitful again. In 1606: William Shakespeare and the Year of Lear, James Shapiro, Larry Miller Professor of English at Columbia University, walks the reader through this significant year.