Into the spotlight steps Rosalind, from As You Like It. She's alive. She’s modern. She's also a fiction. Played by a boy actor in 1599, Rosalind is a girl who gets into men's clothes so that she can investigate the truth about love. Both male and female, imaginary and real, her intriguing duality gives her a special role. This book is for everyone who has ever loved Shakespe Into the spotlight steps Rosalind, from As You Like It. She's alive. She’s modern. She's also a fiction. Played by a boy actor in 1599, Rosalind is a girl who gets into men's clothes so that she can investigate the truth about love. Both male and female, imaginary and real, her intriguing duality gives her a special role. This book is for everyone who has ever loved Shakespeare. Rosalind, his most innovative heroine, can never die. There is no clock in the Forest of Arden where Rosalind finds herself and applies her mercurial wit to teach her lover, Orlando, how to become her perfect partner, issues which consume men and women today. This highly original biography of Rosalind contains exclusive new interviews with Juliet Rylance, Sally Scott, Janet Suzman, Juliet Stevenson, Michelle Terry, award-winning director Blanche McIntyre, as well as insights from Michael Attenborough, Kenneth Branagh, Greg Doran, Rebecca Hall, Adrian Lester, Pippa Nixon, Vanessa Redgrave, and Fiona Shaw. Exploring the fictitious life and the many after-lives of Rosalind, Angela Thirwell delves into the character’s perennial influence on drama, fiction and art. For any fan of the theater, this book ranges far and wide across the Elizabethan world, sexual politics, autobiography, and filmography, bringing Shakespeare's immortal heroine to new and vivid life.
Rosalind: A Biography of Shakespeare's Immortal Heroine
Into the spotlight steps Rosalind, from As You Like It. She's alive. She’s modern. She's also a fiction. Played by a boy actor in 1599, Rosalind is a girl who gets into men's clothes so that she can investigate the truth about love. Both male and female, imaginary and real, her intriguing duality gives her a special role. This book is for everyone who has ever loved Shakespe Into the spotlight steps Rosalind, from As You Like It. She's alive. She’s modern. She's also a fiction. Played by a boy actor in 1599, Rosalind is a girl who gets into men's clothes so that she can investigate the truth about love. Both male and female, imaginary and real, her intriguing duality gives her a special role. This book is for everyone who has ever loved Shakespeare. Rosalind, his most innovative heroine, can never die. There is no clock in the Forest of Arden where Rosalind finds herself and applies her mercurial wit to teach her lover, Orlando, how to become her perfect partner, issues which consume men and women today. This highly original biography of Rosalind contains exclusive new interviews with Juliet Rylance, Sally Scott, Janet Suzman, Juliet Stevenson, Michelle Terry, award-winning director Blanche McIntyre, as well as insights from Michael Attenborough, Kenneth Branagh, Greg Doran, Rebecca Hall, Adrian Lester, Pippa Nixon, Vanessa Redgrave, and Fiona Shaw. Exploring the fictitious life and the many after-lives of Rosalind, Angela Thirwell delves into the character’s perennial influence on drama, fiction and art. For any fan of the theater, this book ranges far and wide across the Elizabethan world, sexual politics, autobiography, and filmography, bringing Shakespeare's immortal heroine to new and vivid life.
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kay –
Not sure if you need to be a Shakespeare nut or (even thinner of a demographic) an “As you Like It” nut to enjoy this much meditation on Rosalind, but I recommend it highly, nonetheless. Some preliminary knowledge helps the reader, and an interest in literary & historical analysis help even more, but to even casual readers I think this is a worthy read and an entirely do-able read. It caters to a very specific taste, but luckily for me it was just my taste. At once biography and analysis, celebra Not sure if you need to be a Shakespeare nut or (even thinner of a demographic) an “As you Like It” nut to enjoy this much meditation on Rosalind, but I recommend it highly, nonetheless. Some preliminary knowledge helps the reader, and an interest in literary & historical analysis help even more, but to even casual readers I think this is a worthy read and an entirely do-able read. It caters to a very specific taste, but luckily for me it was just my taste. At once biography and analysis, celebration and critique, Thirlwell’s “Rosalind” is the deepest of deep dives into the titular character from Shakespeare’s “As You Like It” and examines the nuance of the show but perhaps more significantly the legacy this character has left behind. In format it reads almost like a series of essays, centered on Rosalind but without over-arching argument. Almost, I say, as the final segment, entitled “Afterlife,” seems to be drawing all the threads together in support of a soft thesis that Rosalind is one of Shakespeare’s most influential and fertile characters for continued creativity. This point is well supported, though it was not my greatest interest in the book. Most of “Rosalind” is devoted to exploring the subversive nature of gender and sexuality in “As You Like It” and this, to me, seems rather the natural choice in concluding thesis, better anticipated by the bulk of the text. Not only that, but these themes are the most compellingly, argumentatively written parts and, to boot, some of the wittiest. I give “Rosalind” 4 stars instead of 5 only because of its too-safe thesis seeming a dull appeasement to skirt (pun intended) the more poignant arguments of gender and sexuality clearly being relished throughout the body of the work. Other than that, the writing is very readable and narrative for scholarly analysis, and avoids pretension while being both informative and inquisitive. I’d suggest it to Shakespeare & drama fans, gender theory enthusiasts, and anyone looking for tips on how to win your banished lover through cross dressing.
Paige –
I really did enjoy this book, I flew through in a matter of days despite it being somewhat out of my reading comfort range. This biography centres around Rosalind the heroine of Shakespeare's play 'As You Like It'. I don't know the play that well, if at all, but Thirlwell writes so eloquently and so passionately that it's easy to catch up with the story and Rosalind's journey. It talks of Rosalind's predecessors, 'children', the other characters on 'As You Like It', and productions of the play t I really did enjoy this book, I flew through in a matter of days despite it being somewhat out of my reading comfort range. This biography centres around Rosalind the heroine of Shakespeare's play 'As You Like It'. I don't know the play that well, if at all, but Thirlwell writes so eloquently and so passionately that it's easy to catch up with the story and Rosalind's journey. It talks of Rosalind's predecessors, 'children', the other characters on 'As You Like It', and productions of the play throughout the years. It's very easy to follow and I found myself intrigued and wanting to continue with the book. I'm not the biggest fan of Shakespeare however Thirlwell's own passion shines through and helps you along. I finished the book with a much better understanding of the play and it's characters and how Rosalind helped shape other works after her arrival. This is a must read for fans of Shakespeare and you should definitely consider picking this up if you're a fan of theatre, at just over 200 pages it's a quick read and won't bog you down in facts and history.
Caroline –
This would be a good book to read either if you've just seen As You Like It or if you're about to see it. Thirlwell puts Rosalind in context of other Shakespeare heroines before and after 1599, in the context of England under Elizabeth, and in the context of theatrical interpretations through the centuries. As the play is not a dark play, the book is not a dark book, and it makes you want to go look up film of some of the actors she talks to about Rosalind. It's kind of amazing that there was a This would be a good book to read either if you've just seen As You Like It or if you're about to see it. Thirlwell puts Rosalind in context of other Shakespeare heroines before and after 1599, in the context of England under Elizabeth, and in the context of theatrical interpretations through the centuries. As the play is not a dark play, the book is not a dark book, and it makes you want to go look up film of some of the actors she talks to about Rosalind. It's kind of amazing that there was a person like Rosalind on the stage at that time or indeed at any time since her creation as the play's been staged again and again.
robyn –
A study of gender and sexual fluidity is a natural one when considering Shakespeare, with his boys playing girls playing boys, his frank portrayals of love romantic, filial, platonic, doomed... Not all of his heroines are heroes, but Rosalind, who enters the Forest of Arden and dons the habit of Ganymede, ranks high, a case the author makes by comparing her to those other Shakespearean ladies, one by one. It's a good read and a very timely one considering the place that sexual identity currently A study of gender and sexual fluidity is a natural one when considering Shakespeare, with his boys playing girls playing boys, his frank portrayals of love romantic, filial, platonic, doomed... Not all of his heroines are heroes, but Rosalind, who enters the Forest of Arden and dons the habit of Ganymede, ranks high, a case the author makes by comparing her to those other Shakespearean ladies, one by one. It's a good read and a very timely one considering the place that sexual identity currently holds in the public mind.
Lorraine Groom –
I so enjoyed this book and will reach for it often as a reference to Shakespeare's immortal heroine, Rosalind. This should be read by any theater fan and certainly by any Shakespeare scholar. I so enjoyed this book and will reach for it often as a reference to Shakespeare's immortal heroine, Rosalind. This should be read by any theater fan and certainly by any Shakespeare scholar.
lucy –
Imogen Budetti –
katze –
Steven –
Chris –
A clever framework for insights into Rosalind and similar characters. A bit repetitive.
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