Published: 15 October 2015
ISBN: 9781448155095
Imprint: Vintage Digital
Format: EBook
Pages: 512

Categories:

Literature: history & criticism

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Worlds Elsewhere

Journeys Around Shakespeare's Globe

Andrew Dickson

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Cultural history combines with literary travelogue to show Shakespeare in an utterly original, international light

Anti-apartheid activist, Bollywood screenwriter, Nazi pin-up, hero of the Wild West: this is Shakespeare as you have never seen him before.

‘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)

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. But what is it about William Shakespeare – a man 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, Worlds Elsewhere is an attempt to understand how Shakespeare has become the international phenomenon he is – and why.

Published: 15 October 2015
ISBN: 9781448155095
Imprint: Vintage Digital
Format: EBook
Pages: 512

Categories:

Literature: history & criticism

Share…

About the author

Andrew Dickson

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

Praise for Worlds Elsewhere

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

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

Eye-opening and engrossing
Mail on Sunday

Immensely well-informed and highly readable. A revelatory journey of cultural exploration
Professor Stanley Wells, General Editor of the Oxford and Penguin Shakespeares

Brilliantly original. Absolutely engaging, witty and irresistible. What’s most remarkable: he’s said something new about Shakespeare
Michael Pye, author of The Edge of the World

A truly original book about Shakespeare: one that explores the dramatist's global reach with tenacity, devotion and an exhilarating spirit of adventure
Michael Billington

Dickson makes an engaging, idiosyncratic guide as he investigates the details of Shakespeare's global reach.
Peter Carty, International Business Times

Entertaining and informative
Guardian

A young critic who matches energy and erudition with truly Elizabethan zest
Independent

A terrific and lively account
Irish Independent

A tour de force by any standards, a fascinating blend of travelogue and Shakespearean research that reads like a detective story
David Crystal, author of The Stories of English