The familiar figure of Shakespeare, the world’s greatest dramatist, belongs to universal culture. Little is known of his life, more of his plays, yet countless analyses and explanations of them have been written by distinguished experts on literature and aesthetics. Rónaszegi has no wish to join the ranks of these scholars and has instead chosen an unusual format. In his own words, he has written ‘a sketch novel’, albeit one that is filled with erudition, perceptiveness, appraisal, and fascinating information. Every one of Shakespeare’s plays contains a reference to the theatre and acting, the most famous being the lines from As You Like It: ‘All the world’s a stage.’ But it
was not acting itself that inspired the playwright, nor was he absorbed in the minutiae of everyday theatrical life – Shakespeare’s great insight is that the whole of human life is nothing more than endless posturing and posing. One moment we are masking our personalities and concealing our intentions, while the next we are acting in character or responding to the expectations of those around us. We perform not to an audience but to ourselves and to one another. This, then, is the real secret that Rónaszegi uncovers, while modestly acknowledging in the course of his brilliant narrative that no one will ever be able to unravel the mystery of Shakespeare’s genius.
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