World's Elsewhere- Journeys Around Shakespeare's Globe

Andrew Dickson s startlingly original and joyously entertaining Worlds Elsewhere traverses centuries and continents to reveal Shakespeare and his works in a fantastic array of new guises... Extraordinarily exhilarating ... like no other Shakespeare criticism you have ever read (Margaret Drabble) ~ A tour de force by any standards (David Crystal) ~ Revelatory (James Shapiro) ~ Brilliantly original (Michael Pye) Anti-apartheid activist, Bollywood screenwriter, Nazi pin-up, hero of the Wild West: this is Shakespeare as you have never seen him before. From the sixteenth-century Baltic to the American Revolution, from colonial India to the skyscrapers of modern-day Shanghai, Shakespeare s plays appear at the most fascinating of times and in the most unexpected of places. No other writer s work has been performed, translated, adapted and altered in such a remarkable variety of cultures and languages. But what is it about William Shakespeare a man from Warwickshire who never once set foot outside England that has made him at home in so many places around the globe? Travelling across four continents, six countries and 400 years, Andrew Dickson takes us on a personal journey rich in insight and surprise. We enter the air-conditioned vault deep beneath Capitol Hill where the world s largest collection of First Folios is stored; discover the shadowy history of Joseph Goebbels s obsession with Shakespeare; and uncover the true story behind the scuffed edition in which Nelson Mandela and fellow Robben Island prisoners inscribed their names. Both cultural history and literary travelogue, Worlds Elsewhere is an attempt to understand how Shakespeare has become the international phenomenon he is and why. Review " Hugely enjoyable ... inspiring ... the book is a joy, full to bursting with surprising incidents, stories and insight" (Dominic Gromgoole Sunday Times)

"There were very few pages on which I didn t learn something new or revelatory. A must-read for anyone interested in Shakespeare s impact on people and politics around the globe" (James Shapiro, author of 1599: A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare)

"Much more than just a hugely entertaining travelogue. In its original, idiosyncratic way, Dickson s action-packed global quest amounts to a substantial new contribution to Shakespeare scholarship" (Anthony Holden Observer) --Observer " An extraordinarily exhilarating book. It is like no other Shakespeare criticism you have ever read … his cross-cultural insights into Shakespeare are remarkable … illustrated by and interwoven with many human stories" (Margaret Drabble New Statesman) --New Statesman " Eye-opening and engrossing" ( Mail on Sunday) --Mail on Sunday Book Description Cultural history combines with literary travelogue to show Shakespeare in an utterly original, international light Author Bio Andrew Dickson is a writer and critic. He grew up in Yorkshire and studied English at Cambridge, later returning to take an MPhil in Renaissance literature, and is currently an honorary research fellow at Birkbeck, University of London. A former arts editor at the Guardian, he writes regularly for the paper and has contributed to the New Yorker and the New Statesman, as well as making frequent appearances on the BBC. He blogs at worldselsewhere.com