Shylock: Four Hundred Years in the Life of a Legend

by John Gross

John Gross's fascinating and original study examines the influence of Shakespeare's character Shylock over the centuries, including how others such as Proust, James, and T. S. Eliot wrote about him, and how the Nazis misused him to whip up hatred. Gross handles his subject with urbane intelligence and wit, and provides a deeply interesting case study of the ambiguous relations between literature and historical reality.

Genres: Nonfiction

368 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

John Gross was the editor of The Times Literary Supplement in London, a senior book editor and book critic on the staff of The New York Times in New York, and theatre critic for The Sunday Telegraph. He was also literary editor of The New Statesman and Spectator magazines.

Reviews

[jzthompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75/5 - Not perfect, but generally engaging.

The book worked best when discussing how the contemporary cultural context shaped changing interpretations of Shylock down the years. At times the minutiae of various stage performances of Shylock down the years got very dry - these sections were really only rewarding when being used to illustrate a particular point; i.e. the initial rehabilitation of Shylock by the romantics, or the different ways Jewish actors and audiences have engaged with the play. Sections on the uses the Shylock character had been put to by politicians, theorists, Anti-Semites, psychoanalysts (etc), were also interesting, but a lot sketchier and less worked through. Passing comments on the Christian characters in the play should have either been expanded or avoided, we're told in passing that their negative characteristics are exaggerated in the modern day... but never really given much detail as to why, which leave a sense of incompleteness. Generally speaking though Gross is insightful, intelligent and unpretentious.

[Ed · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nothing really new in this book. In the first part Gross does a decent enough job of summarizing most of the critical views of the character from "The Merchant of Venice", especially regarding the position of Jews in England during the time of Shakespeare and in centuries before. He is informative and even handed if not original. In the second part Gross is more in his element--he is a theater critic of long standing and draws on his own experience in the audience for many Shylock interpretations combined with the historical record of some of the great performances of the centuries past.

Gross is not a scholar but a working critic so he doesn't have the depth of knowledge or the capacity to research his subject that an academic would bring but his particular talents as a professional observer and commentor upon theatrical presentations is an interesting way to look at the complex issues that lie at the heart of Shylock.

[Charlene]

I learned much about the history of the character of Shylock, the actors who have portrayed him, and the attitudes toward Jews in England at the time of *The Merchant of Venice* and later.