What Blest Genius?: The Jubilee That Made Shakespeare [Hardcover]

Winner of the 2019 Marfield Prize for Outstanding Writing About the Arts Vivacious... Garricks Jubilee of 1769 runs the Fyre Festival of 2017 close for overambition, chaotic planning and near disaster... Stott quotes Boswells enthusiasm for Garricks acting by saying that he made particles of vivacity dance within him by a sort of contagion. The same compliment is owed to Stott for the manner in which he tells this eccentric story. Yes, Shakespeares genius is in the work.?But in this sprightly volume, Andrew McConnell Stott argues that an eighteenth-century publicity stunt of a weekendimprovised, outsized, and in many ways absurdput the playwright on the map. Stott's revel sparkles, even in the teeming rain. A glorious, hilarious romp through the events of the three-day literary extravaganza of 1769 that made Shakespeare a household name and put Stratford-upon-Avon on the tourist trail. Zestful and witty, while positively bursting with anecdotes, insights and tales of theatrical and sexual derring-do. Once Id started reading, I couldnt put it down. It was to be the spectacle that would transform the Bard from cultural icon to secular saint of English literature, and make actor (and self-promoter) David Garricks name inseparable from that of William Shakespeares&With humor and meticulously researched detail, Andrew McConnell Stott takes us on the circuitous and muddy road from idea to realization of the first Shakespeare Jubilee.?His gentle prose makes us feel like we are being let in on inside secrets, preparing us for a comical and surprising denouement. A meticulous, sharply observed, and often funny account of the great Shakespeare Jubilee of 1769, a celebration largely responsibledespite various mishapsfor the notion of semi-divine bardic genius which still encumbers him today. Written with all the verve and wit as befits the subject and the age, Andrew McConnell Stotts A marvelous account of the world's first literary festival... Stott chl3(