All the World's a Stage: A Guide to Shakespearean Sites

William Shakespeare wrote during a great age of exploration, of not only England but around the globe. The locales featured in the playwright’s works are crucial to the drama that unfolds in each of his plays. Though England figures in many of his works, his vision encompassed countries all over Europe—from Shylock’s house in The Merchant of Venice to Kronberg castle in Hamlet. In All the World’s a Stage: A Guide to Shakespearean Sites, Joseph Rosenblum identifies and describes all of the settings featured in the bard’s plays—from modest dwellings noted in a brief scene to the wide array of castles depicted in many of his histories and tragedies. Locations that figure significantly in Shakespeare’s plays include Austria in Measure for Measure, Cypress in Othello, Illyria in Twelfth Night, Egypt in Antony and Cleopatra, and Flroence in All’s Well That End’s Well, among others. Historic buildings are also scrutinized, from the Tower of London in several plays to Notre Dame in Henry VI and the Forum in Julius Caesar. In addition to plot summaries, the author analyzes the choice of locations, delineating the historically prominent settings of Shakespeare’s epic dramas, such as the glorified Rome and the sensual Egypt that Marc Antony is torn between in his pursuit of Cleopatra. Rosenblum also discusses how some of Shakespeare’s settings were either altered or invented for dramatic purposes, such as the imagined sea coast of Bohemia in A Winter’s Tale and Prospero’s island in The Tempest. Though focused on plays, this volume also discusses locations associated with Shakespeare that do not appear in his works. In addition to descriptions of very real settings throughout Great Britain, the author notes underground stops in London ideal for tourist exploration. Indeed, anyone interested in a Shakespearean tour of England will find material here for designing such a trip. Meticulously researched and featuring an appendix of works by location, All the World’s a Stage: A Guide to Shakespearean Sites is an invaluable resource for scholars, students, and fans of England’s greatest playwright.

About the Author :
Joseph Rosenblum is professor of English at University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He is the author or editor of several books, including Chaucer Illustrated: The Canterbury Tales in Pictures over 500 Years (2003) and The Definitive Companion to Shakespeare (2017).

Review :
Rosenblum (Univ. of North Carolina, Greensboro) edited The Greenwood Companion to Shakespeare (CH, Mar'06, 43-3896), and in the present book, he offers a comprehensive, well-written discussion of "all the locations used for Shakespeare's scenes in his plays and in the poems" (p. xiii). The book "serves as a guide to Shakespeare's world by linking events, references, and locations to life in Shakespeare's England and Shakespeare's biography." Rosenblum arranges the volume by genre—histories, comedies, tragedies, romances, and poems—and by play or poem (the latter including "The Rape of Lucrece," "The Phoenix and the Turtle," and sonnets 153 and 154). There are two appendixes, "Other Shakespearean Sites" and "Works by Location." Content is clearly expressed and in keeping with fashionable critical and interdisciplinary discourse on spaces and literary cartography. The author includes prefatory maps of Shakespeare's Britain, Renaissance Italy, the Roman Empire, and (curiously) the Mediterranean world, and he scatters black-and-white illustrations throughout. The book is well bound, and the format is attractive; included are a detailed enumerated bibliography and a useful index. Complementing and amplifying Jeremy Black's Mapping Shakespeare (2018), Rosenblum's book is a veritable treasure trove of information. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty.