Aug 21, 2008

Shakespeare's Influence | Shakespeare and Modern Writer

The year 1916 was, at least in Shakespeare's own country, too distracted for multicentennial celebrations. But 1964 saw something like a blaze. The twenty-third of April was a Thursday, a publication day, and there was a publisher's cocktail party on the Monday to wet the head of my novel Nothing Like the Sun, which is about Shakespeare. The same evening had been chosen for the opening of a new television channel, BBC-2, and, as television critic of The Listener, I had an obligation to stay at home and watch. But the publication party had priority. Fortunately Battersea power...