Shakespeare in Bloomsbury

For the men and women of the Bloomsbury Group, Shakespeare was a constant presence and a creative benchmark. Not only the works they intended for publication – the novels, biographies, economic and political writings, stage designs and reviews – but also their diaries and correspondence, their gossip and small talk turned regularly on Shakespeare. They read his plays for pleasure in the evenings, and on sunny summer afternoons in the country. They went to the theatre, discussed performances, and speculated about Shakespeare’s mind. As poet, as dramatist, as model and icon, as elusive ‘life,’ Shakespeare haunted their imaginations and made his way, through phrase, allusion, and oblique reference, into their own lives and art. This is a book about Shakespeare in Bloomsbury – about the role Shakespeare played in the lives of a charismatic and influential cast.