Stephen Greenblatt

Please note: New topic. Stephen Greenblatt will not be talking about “The Story of Adam and Eve” – as originally announced.

How can it be that a great nation falls into the hands of a tyrant? Why do people accept the lies of a man who so obviously harms their country? And is there any chance of stopping the tyrant before it’s too late? In his dramas – from “Richard III” to “Julius Caesar” – William Shakespeare has repeatedly dealt with these questions and narrated the rise of tyrants, their reign and their decline. Stephen Greenblatt, one of the most renowned Shakespeare experts of our time, shows us how precisely and vividly the poet from Stratford captured the essence of tyranny – and how frighteningly timely this seems for us today.

Greenblatt writes: “Shakespeare’s words have an uncanny ability to reach out beyond their original time and place and to speak directly to us. We have long looked to him, in times of perplexity and risk, for the most fundamental human truths. So it is now. Do not think it cannot happen, and do not stay silent or waste your vote.”

Stephen Greenblatt is a Professor of English and American Literature and Language at Harvard University.

Language: English