Professor James Shapiro – The Year of Lear: Shakespeare in 1606
Join the Columbia University Club of New York and Columbia Alumni Association on Tuesday, November 17th for a conversation with James Shapiro on his new book, The Year of Lear: Shakespeare in 1606.
Synopsis: Preeminent Shakespeare scholar James Shapiro shows how the tumultuous events in England in 1606 affected Shakespeare and shaped the three great tragedies he wrote that year– King Lear, Macbeth, and Antony and Cleopatra.
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.
James Shapiro is the Larry Miller Professor of English at Columbia University, where he has taught since 1985. He is the author of several books, including 1599 and Contested Will, and is the recipient of many awards and fellowships. Shapiro is a Governor of the Folger Shakespeare Library. He lives in New York with his wife and son.
In the news:
- Ideas and News From Columbia Alumni: Low Down – The Year of Lear
- The New York Times: Shakespeare in Modern English? by James Shapiro
Host: This event is done in collaboration with PCNY.
Registration: 6:00PM
Lecture: 6:30PM
Reception: 8:00PM
Cost: Free for members, $15 for guests
Fees for this event will be billed to the member’s account.
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