Shakespeare's Dog

by Leon Rooke

A tour de force of inventive wit Shakespeare's Dog is the eccentric and high-spirited story of William Shakespeare and how he came to bed and wed Anne Hathaway. Told from the point of view of the Bard's dog, this astonishing novel of comic bliss, hailed as a triumph of language and an amusing delight.

Genres: Canada, Fiction, Shakespeare, Literature

157 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1981

About the author

He is a Canadian novelist.

Reviews

[George]

I interviewed Leon Rooke here: https://thecollidescope.com/2021/08/0...

"Dog was meant to chew on fleas and confess to the world he liked it. To sit or heel or roll over, as master commanded. He wasn’t mean for ghosts’ skull-tapping."

Published in 1983, Shakespeare’s Dog is wild and wacky from the very beginning, opening up as it does with the eponymous Hooker attacking another dog named Wolfsleach because he was mounting his bitch Marr. Like an R-rated Aesopian fable, the entire book is narrated by this mangy mutt, one who bites, pisses, shits, and even laps up his own vomit, as dogs are wont to do, even sharing it with the strumpety Marr: “Venomous toads hopped heavy as iron along my stomach walls, spurting their poisons. Worms gnawed beneath my fangs. Unable to lift my head, I retched down over my standing spot. Blood and slimy noodles and greyish stringy ribbons of gut driveled forth.”

Read my full review for free here: https://thecollidescope.com/2021/07/0...

[Chris Via]

Video review: https://youtu.be/OutX0KEyA8I

[Mark]

“A dog’s trot takes him past smoking chimney and chill, past field, cranny, and nook; it takes him over ground where was laid not-quite-remembered bone, past sodding brook and sodding hill to nuzzle snake’s hole and hare’s trail and mole’s endless dig; it takes him down narrow ditch and up sweeping slopes and across ghostly divides; it takes him through the curious muck fills; it takes him the long way, going at it swift-gaited as a racehorse or moaning low with unfathomable heartsickness—but in the end, tongue dragging, it gets him there. Blind purpose powers him home.”

Still reading? Rooke’s most-often clever and amusing experiment brings together a unique (I think I can legitimately use that word) narrative point of view—the voice of Mr. Hooker, Elizabethan dog and something of a bard himself—and a fine observation of a dog’s sensibility (in other words, smells and bodily functions and food and sex and humans…). Here’s the young Shakespeare, vacillating about the much-desired and necessary move to London and his true vocation, discussing it with his pooch:

“I tell you, Hooker, this Stratford—Anne and Susanna and my beauteous twins, though I love them—it sits like a gnat on my tongue. Thou shouldst swallow, says Anne. Says my mother, says John. Being stalwart to them’s no more than accepting whatever poultice wind blows….
“I would piddle, though not on Stratford’s stones. My piddle would arch elsewhere. Shakespeare’s not a mourner to be satisfied with sniffing at life’s unfilled bowl. And I sniff it here. Sniffing verily packs me in.”
I stared bleakly off at the paddling, humdrum swans, getting the taste of something rotten in my mouth. Feeling out of patience with Will and half-thinking here mouths off a weak-sponged fool. A sniveler, all bellyache and drivel, no hum to his cross-eared tune.”

[Sara Cantoni]

Leggo Shakespeare e non capisco più nulla ... ecco come spiegare l'acquisto di questo romanzo e, prima ancora, la sua presenza nella mia wishlist.

Sono stata incuriosita dalla trama: la vita di Shakespeare raccontata attraverso gli occhi del suo cane.

Peccato che Mr Hooker, il cane per l'appunto, sia estremamente violento verbalmente e sboccato e che il suo punto di vista, seppur interessante e a tratti ironico e sarcastico, risulta fastidioso e ben oltre la soglia dell'irriverenza.

Se inizialmente avevo apprezzato il racconto in presa diretta, quasi un flusso di coscienza canina ... mi sono poi ricreduta: troppo lungo, troppo lento e, probabilmente, non eccellente a livello stilistico. Sono rimasta tramortita, confusa, spaesata ... no, non ho proprio apprezzato questo tentativo, lodevole nell'intento, di dare una nuova visione alla vita di Shakespeare prima di Londra.

Interessante la rappresentazione della vita a Stratford (e nell'Inghilterra elisabettiana in generale) ma anche in questo caso, il buono si perde nella confusione di cui il libro è intriso.

[Nancy]

I tried really, really hard to read this book. I had heard good things about it from another book website I belong to. It is written in first person Shakespearean DOG, and is about life as Bill Shakespeare's dog (who knew? LOL.) I guess the writing is all right, if you can stand to read in Old English.... I can't.

[Cynthia Egbert]

I wanted to love this one but it was just too crude and dark and it was historically inaccurate which makes me crazy. The book ended with Shakespeare waxing poetic about his twins writing on the walls of New Place but by the time they occupied New Place, Hamnet was dead. I do have to voice my frustration to those reviewers who complain about the "Old English" in this book. Shakespeare did not write in Old English, he wrote in Early Modern English. If you were really reading old English, you would not even be able to recognize many of the words. Sorry, but this is a true pet peeve of mine. Back on topic, this is one book with Shakespeare in the title which will not be staying in my library.

[Vivian Zenari]

I read this book the first time maybe 30 years ago and am glad I re-read it. I still like it. It’s a zany biography of William Shakespeare’s early adulthood from his dog Hooker’s point of view. I recommend the book to students sometimes when they want to write from an animal‘s point of view. To do an animal story that is not dull requires risk taking and this book takes risks

[Philip]

Funny, raunchy and dark, a nice little read from a Canadian author almost entirely in Elizabethan english.

[Carl]

A gift from my first Canadaphile friend, Carol, when she was a student at the University of Toronto, I guess this is a version of the alternative-point-of-view novel that I find so fascinating: Wide Sargasso Sea, Wicked, etc. I probably read this right after the Rhys book, when I was especially hopped up on the concept. In any case, I remember finding this delightfully raw, an easy read, and very funny. I know it's great for those who love Shakespeare, but I wonder if people who don't care for Shakespeare would like it even more, as a sort of sweet revenge on the canon!

[Anna]

My local library has a book club set of this novel and it was recently chosen for our book club to read. I'm sad to say that I had to give up pretty early on as I had really no idea what Mr Hooker was going on about (except that he was upset that another dog was stealing all his action). Too much work for my precious reading time, so I'm moving on.

[Kathleen]

The book is written from Wm. Shakespeare's dogs point of view. I loved it! It was hilarious, if you can get past the crudeness of doggie behavior, and had a very good alternate story of "Shagspeare's" beginnings.

[Sacha]

A canine view of Shakespeare's life as told by his dog, Hooker. It's an absurd plot... so, of course, I had to read it. I had a few chuckles, mostly I thought it was weird. Kudos for writing something very unique, but, I just couldn't connect with it on an emotional level.

[Nate]

that fucking dog could read humans!

[Ralph]

I read this book after hearing the author interviewed by Peter Gzowski and just had to read it. Great story, need to read it again.

[Caleigh]

An interesting concept, but a little annoying to read. Dogs just weren't meant to write books. (With apologies to Snoopy)

[Heidi]

Not really what I thought it would be. Inventive, but not a book I'd bother reading again.