James Shapiro author photo

James Shapiro

Nacido: September 11, 1955 – Brooklyn, New York, United States

James Shapiro is a literary scholar and author focused on Shakespeare, early modern culture, and theater in public life. His books include 1599, The Year of Lear, Shakespeare in a Divided America, and The Playbook; 1599 won the Samuel Johnson Prize, and The Year of Lear won the James Tait Black Prize. ((https://english.columbia.edu/content/james-shapiro?utm_source=openai))

Biografía y Trayectoria del Autor

James Shapiro grew up in Brooklyn and followed an academic path through Columbia University, where he earned his B.A. in 1977, and the University of Chicago, where he completed his Ph.D. in 1982. An irony at the center of his biography is that he has repeatedly said he disliked Shakespeare when he encountered the plays in high school and never took a Shakespeare course in college. That early resistance became a turning point: rather than treating Shakespeare as a remote monument, Shapiro came to him through history, performance, and the pressures of lived political life. ((https://english.columbia.edu/content/james-shapiro))

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Citas

quote
Everybody stakes a claim in Shakespeare
-As You Like It
quote
We want to believe that what started in England ended in America
-As You Like It
quote
It is explosive. It is potentially toxic, but that's why it speaks to us
-As You Like It
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Shakespeare offers us a way of engaging in issues that are otherwise too toxic or too difficult to address
-Shakespeare in a Divided America
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Shakespeare truly is for everybody in this country. It’s not for an elite
-Shakespeare in a Divided America
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But Shakespeare is commonly owned, which means it’s one of the very few sites where we can meet and negotiate our differences
-James Shapiro on Shakespeare in a Divided America
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You can’t get from a newspaper a fuller and deeper understanding of the forces that are really, really shaping our lives
-James Shapiro on Shakespeare in a Divided America
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1606 was one of the worst years for England in Shakespeare’s lifetime, perhaps the worst
-James Shapiro: The Year of Lear
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Shakespeare took this happy ending and transformed it into the most agonizing tragedy imaginable
-James Shapiro: The Year of Lear

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Voces de la Comunidad

"In two landmark books, James Shapiro explored the depth of Shakespeare's engagement in the contested issues of his own time"

Stephen Greenblatt

"James Shapiro has discovered that Shakespeare is the canary in the coalmine of American history, always the surest guide to the way things are headed"

Nicholas Hytner

"James Shapiro turns his gift for charged narratives to the art and politics of 1930s America"

Margo Jefferson

"James Shapiro excels at bringing Shakespeare's works and worlds to life for our time"

Sean Wilentz

"James Shapiro has outshone many of our best political pundits with this superb contribution to the discourse"

David Ives

"As ever James Shapiro's latest book provides vital insights into the transformative power of art in our daily life"

Adjoa Andoh

"With the lightest touch and the most formidable scholarship, James Shapiro, once again, proves himself to be an irresistible storyteller"

Simon Russell Beale

"James Shapiro's tremendous book painstakingly details the political malice which attends any strong artistic idea"

David Hare

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