title: The Shakespeare Wars: Clashing Scholars, Public Fiascoes, Palace Coups
author:  Ron Rosenbaum 
description: <i>Starred Review.</i> Acclaimed journalist Rosenbaum, <i>New York Observer</i> columnist and cultural omnivore (<i>Explaining Hitler</i>), conveys the impassioned arguments of leading directors and scholars concerning how Shakespeare should be printed and performed. "Hearing Sir Peter Hall pound his fists in fury over the vital importance of a pause at the close of a pentameter line, for instancewonderful!" Rosenbaum enthuses. Elsewhere he recalls how seeing Peter Brook's definitive 1970 production of <i>A Midsummer Night's Dream</i> inspired Rosenbaum's "outsider's odyssey into the innermost citadels of scholarship" to investigate the painstaking work of Shakespearean textual experts as they convert the Bard's earliest published works into authoritative editions. Evoking the clashing methodologies and discourses of scholars, the dizzying depths of lexicographic databases and a rare instance of Shakespeare's voice transcribed in a court proceeding, Rosenbaum captures with clarity and wry humor the obsessive fervor, theoretical about-turns and occasional scholarly fiasco that characterize this arcane world. He considers the politics of portraying Shylock and Falstaff, appraises Shakespeare on film and provocatively comments on the work of such influential critics as Harold Bloom, Stephen Greenblatt and Stephen Booth. Balancing academic reportage with his own lively observations, Rosenbaum wrestles with the weightiest issues of Shakespeare studies in a down-to-earth manner that readers will applaud. <i>(Sept. 26)</i> <br />Copyright  Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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  ### James Hay
  
  
  
  
  
    
  This page formatted 2007 Blackmask Online.  
  
  
  http://www.blackmask.com  
    
  
  * I. THE GREY ENVELOPE
  
  
  * II. THE WOMAN ON THE LAWN
  
  
  * III. THE UNEXPECTED WITNESS
  
  
  * IV. HASTINGS IS RETAINED
  
  
  * V. THE INTERVIEW WITH MRS. BRACE
  
  
  * VI. ACTION BY THE SHERIFF
  
  
  * VII. THE HOSTILITY OF MR. SLOANE
  
  
  * VIII. THE MAN WHO RAN AWAY
  
  
  * IX. THE BREAKING DOWN OF WEBSTER
  
  
  * X. THE WHISPERED CONFERENCE
  
  
  * [XI. MOTIVES REVEALED](nocl_split_1.html#1_0_12)
  
  
  * [XII. HENDRICKS REPORTS](nocl_split_1.html#1_0_13)
  
  
  * [XIII. MRS. BRACE BEGINS](nocl_split_1.html#1_0_14)
  
  
  * [XIV. MR. CROWN FORMS AN ALLIANCE](nocl_split_1.html#1_0_15)
  
  
  * [XV. IN ARTHUR SLOANE'S ROOM](nocl_split_1.html#1_0_16)
  
  
  * [XVI. THE BRIBE](nocl_split_1.html#1_0_17)
  
  
  * [XVII. “THE WHOLE TRUTH”](nocl_split_1.html#1_0_18)
  
  
  * [XVIII. THE MAN WHO RODE AWAY](nocl_split_1.html#1_0_19)
  
  
  * [XIX. “PURSUIT!”](nocl_split_1.html#1_0_20)
  
  
  * [XX. 