First Of All, Shakespeare Is

I Was In Venice Teaching, So I Reread Henry James's "the Wings Of The Dove." I Love James.

Literate Households In The 17th Century Would Have Had The Bible, John Bunyan's "the Pilgrim's Progress," And A Couple Of Other Books. Shakespeare Plays Were Cheap, So You Could Buy Those, But A Folio Cost A Pound, Which Was An Incredible Amount Of Money Then.

Art Always Penetrates The Particular Fissures In One's Psychic Life.

I Believe In Broken, Fractured, Complicated Narratives, But I Believe In Narratives As A Vehicle For Truth, Not Simply As A Form Of Entertainment, Though I Love Entertainment, But Also A Way Of Conveying What Needs To Be Conveyed About The Works That I Care About.

What I Wanted To Do Was To Get That Sense Of Being In Touch With This Lost World While Holding Onto What Draws Readers And Audiences There In The First Place.