Shylock Is My Name: William Shakespeare's the Merchant of Venice Retold: A Novel Contributor(s): Jacobson, Howard (Author) |
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ISBN: 0804141347 ISBN-13: 9780804141345 Publisher: Hogarth Press OUR PRICE: $15.30 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: October 2016 |
Additional Information |
BISAC Categories: - Fiction | Literary - Fiction | Women - Fiction | Jewish |
Dewey: FIC |
Series: Hogarth Shakespeare |
Physical Information: 0.9" H x 5.1" W x 7.9" (0.55 lbs) 288 pages |
Themes: - Religious Orientation - Jewish - Sex & Gender - Feminine |
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
Publisher Description: Man Booker Prize-winner Howard Jacobson brings his singular brilliance to this modern re-imagining of one of Shakespeare's most unforgettable characters: Shylock Winter, a cemetery, Shylock. In this provocative and profound interpretation of The Merchant of Venice, Shylock is juxtaposed against his present-day counterpart in the character of art dealer and conflicted father Simon Strulovitch. With characteristic irony, Jacobson presents Shylock as a man of incisive wit and passion, concerned still with questions of identity, parenthood, anti-Semitism and revenge. While Strulovich struggles to reconcile himself to his daughter Beatrice's "betrayal" of her family and heritage--as she is carried away by the excitement of Manchester high society, and into the arms of a footballer notorious for giving a Nazi salute on the field--Shylock alternates grief for his beloved wife with rage against his own daughter's rejection of her Jewish upbringing. Culminating in a shocking twist on Shylock's demand for the infamous pound of flesh, Jacobson's insightful retelling examines contemporary, acutely relevant questions of Jewish identity while maintaining a poignant sympathy for its characters and a genuine spiritual kinship with its antecedent--a drama which Jacobson himself considers to be "the most troubling of Shakespeare's plays for anyone, but, for an English novelist who happens to be Jewish, also the most challenging." |