Disclaimer: I
received a reader's copy of this book from Edelweiss in exchange for my honest
review. All opinions expressed are my own, and no monetary compensation was
received for this review.
(The book was
published on February 8th, 2014; review written 27/06/2015)
Review cross-posted on Edelweiss.
Published February 28th 2014.
Shakespeare
has been in the news lately. Not only are his plays constantly being performed,
read, analyzed, and loved, not only does his language fill our thoughts and his
plots and themes our culture, there is something definitely afoot: “The Spanish
Tragedy” by Thomas Kyd, a discovery of another First Folio in France, “discovery”
of the only portrait made during Shakespeare’s lifetime, the identity of the enigmatic
‘Mr WH’ to whom the sonnets were dedicated, etc. Is the Shakespeare renaissance
underway…?
This book is the story of one man obsessed with a need
to amass Shakespeare’s genius in one place.
“The seed of the world-renowned Folger Shakespeare Library was sown when
Emily Jordan, ‘fair in knowledge’, and Henry Folger, ‘well read in poetry and
other books,’ attended a beach picnic and realized they shared a passion for
Shakespeare.”
The world is
full of small details. Thanks God for picnics and John Heminges and Henry
Condell, who in 1620 decided to collect Shakespeare's complete works.
Without them we would have neither a First Folio nor the FSL. Who knows how much
or how little we would have known about Shakespeare or whether we would have
had the plays to read and see and love. The world owes a lot to these men who
had the foresight to recognize the genius and importance of Shakespeare’s
works.
The earlier chapters are devoted to Henry's life and the author comments on how so little is actually known about his private life. Subsequent chapters deal with the story of Henry Folger whose book collecting hobby turned into an obsession to buy as many copies of the First Folio as he could lay his hand on, metaphorically speaking. Never had hoarding of Shakespeareana reaped such a wonderful collection and fame for the collector. We of course owe a great debt to Folger.
Emily Jordan
does not figure prominently in Grant’s analysis. Grant also
thankfully keeps off the topic of Shakespeare’s marriage.
The
information about who had what folio where and how much it cost sometimes got a
little tiresome, but I understand its inclusion was necessary in order to give
us the full picture of Henry’s purpose. I’d have loved to know more about the
Folgers, i.e., via a character study.
What
drove Henry Folger to Shakespeare? The only insight Grant provides is, “Henry Folger’s original interest in
Shakespeare was instinctive. It was a natural expression of his own spiritual
character. The inner light of his mind was reflected in the age-dimmed but
still bright mirror of the poet’s work. Science affords no satisfying
explanation of such phenomena. Certain souls respond to certain souls, but no
theory yet evolved is competent to furnish a complete analysis of the
relation.” This is also a subject that has been on my mind lately for a
different set of reasons. Can we say we’re better persons because we know our
Shakespeare? Is it because of the stories, the words, or because of something elusive
residing in our (western) mental interstices? I think the experiences and
emotions of his characters are what drives us to Shakespeare, but there must be
something else at play here...
Also
personally interesting were Grant’s comments on the several variorum editions of Shakespeare’s works. i.e., “volumes providing copiously annotated texts
filled with critical commentary spanning generations.” I was not aware so
many editions existed.
The
Folgers, Henry and Emily, utterly and irrevocably altered our literary
landscape, not to mention our Western Weltanschauung.
As Emerson aptly stated, “Now literature,
philosophy, and thought, are Shakespearized.”
Grant’s
book is a fine addition to my personal Shakespeare library.
