Tuesday, February 24, 2015

Ten contemporary novels inspired by Shakespeare's theatrics

At Flavorwire Alison Nastasi tagged ten contemporary novels inspired by Shakespeare, including:
My Name Is Will: A Novel of Sex, Drugs, and Shakespeare

Jess Winfield’s debauched debut, My Name is Will: A Novel of Sex, Drugs, and Shakespeare, besmirches the rep of the literary icon, pairing a historic, pseudo-biographical Shakespeare narrative with that of a latter-day namesake, one Willie Shakespeare Greenberg. Lackadaisical stoner Greenberg — also a scholar of the 16th-century laureate — finds himself embroiled in narcotic, and sometimes erotic escapades, which are spliced with the similarly dissolute misadventures of his time-twin back in 1580. Blending wordplay and humor with period detail, the author advances a provocative critical notion: that his playwright subject may have been a covert Catholic — and, hence, a religious heretic in his own epoch.
Read about another entry on the list.

The Page 69 Test: My Name Is Will.

Also see: Sally O'Reilly's top ten novels inspired by Shakespeare, the greatest Shakespeare homages and cover versions in science fiction and fantasy and Matt Haig's top ten list of novels influenced by Shakespeare.

--Marshal Zeringue