In Our Own Image: Fictional Representations of William Shakespeare, by David Livingstone (Olomouc: Palacký University Olomouc, 2019)

Abstract

Livingstone’s book is an apt and enjoyable summary of the fictional accounts of Shakespeare’s life from the 20th and 21st centuries. Partly due to recent popular cultural works such as the British sitcom Upstart Crow (2016-) and the awardwinning Shakespeare in Love (1998), the topic has received the attention of critics in recent decades (Buffey 2020; Lanier 2007; O’Sullivan 2005; Sawyer 2016), but book-length discussions are still rather rare (Franssen 2016). Livingstone’s In Our Own Image fills a few gaps, but still leaves plenty of room for investigation.