About us
* * We will not be returning to in-person reading groups because our readers in the Zoom meetings are now in four countries and many states across America! So all upcoming meetings are online. * *
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Not what we give, but what we share.
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If you think you know a lot about Shakespeare, try a close read and see what unexpected treasures appear! If you are new to Shakespeare, this is a great way to be introduced to why the plays are considered so great.
This is a non-academic discussion and non-performance-based reading! We read aloud and talk about it, and everyone finds they have insights to share. Silent readers are also most welcome! Feel free to drop in and check it out.
There is a $4.75 fee (plus Meetup small fee) per person per session, payable via the link on the session page (cheaper than yoga or a dog-training session!). This helps pay our Meetup fees, Zoom fees, and the iReadShakespeare.org site. We have event fee sponsorships available; contact [DearRobin@mac.com](maillot:DearRobin@mac.com).
Exactly what we do is explained below, “What we do at a Shakespeare Close Read.”
Please provide a first and last name (even if it is not your real last name) so we can tell apart people with the same first names! It is also extremely thoughtful if you provide an actual photo of yourself so other members in the community can recognize you. Thank you!
An article about us in Local Flavor! (page 36)
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What we do at a Shakespeare Close Read
Our group is very non-intimidating. No one HAS to read—we have many people who have never read a line but thoroughly enjoy listening and participating in the discussion. Some people have been coming for years and never said a word and that’s just fine too!
- From [SlantBooks.org](https://slantbooks.org/close-reading/): Close Reading is the art of paying attention to the ways that literary form and meaning interact. In our politicized era, when craft and vision have often been replaced by propaganda, the art of close reading reminds us that great literature deepens our respect for mystery and the divided nature of the human heart — and in so doing offers us hope for healing and reconciliation.
Each week we carefully go through about 50–200 lines. We stop after every couple of lines and make sure we know what it means, how it relates to the play, what we learned, what we see, etc. With all these bright minds, we all discover amazing riches that we hadn't noticed before.
The following week we first read straight through the section we closely read the week before. Then we start the close read. Parts are chosen in a lottery at the beginning of the sessions if you want to read aloud.
Robin, who usually facilitates, makes a BEEP sound to interrupt and open clarification and/or discussion. Anyone can also beep at any time if they need clarification or want to comment.
We have Readers of all levels, and no one is discouraged or corrected.
You'll find this Is a very welcoming group with no pressure whatsoever. No one will ever put you on the spot! Come join us, from anywhere in the world!
One thing we cannot talk about is the Authorship Question; that is, who wrote Shakespeare? There are believers of various persuasions in the group and everyone is allowed their own opinion! This includes no discussion of the man named William Shakespeare as he is one of the candidates for authorship.
Upcoming events
18
- $1.50
Shakespeare's Sources • Montaigne 2
·OnlineOnlineIt is well established that Shakespeare was quite familiar with the essays of Montaigne. We will peruse a number of essays that have reflections in the plays.
From the Everyman edition: “Humanist, skeptic, acute observer of himself and others, Michel de Montaigne (1533–92) was the first to use the term “essay” to refer to the form he pioneered, and he has remained one of its most famous practitioners. He reflected on the great themes of existence in his wise and engaging writings, his subjects ranging from proper conversation and good reading, to the raising of children and the endurance of pain, from solitude, destiny, time, and custom, to truth, consciousness, and death. Having stood the test of time, his essays continue to influence writers nearly five hundred years later.”
Join us as we read an essay or three at home, then convene on Zoom to discuss what we read.
If you can get a copy of a Florio translation (see below), then you will be reading the same text that Shakespeare read.
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Session Two: We'll look at this general idea: Of Diversions (or Diverting), Book 3, Chapter 4. About 13 pages.
This essay addresses how human beings cope with grief, pain, impending death by diverting our minds to smaller, trivial matters. We might see this in Cleopatra's preparations for her suicide where she turns a terrifying end into a dramatic, theatrical ritual of redirection.Let's also read ***On the Inconstancy of our Actions, ***Book 2, Chapter 1. About 8 pages. Montaigne argues that human beings are radically inconsistent creatures. We are not stable, unified selves with fixed moral identities. Instead, we shift constantly depending on mood, circumstance, health, vanity, fear, social pressure, desire, memory, and accident.
(AI helped me with these synopses!)
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When you click to RSVP, there is a small fee that you can pay with either a PayPal account or a credit card. After you rsvp/pay, the link appears on the right.
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Some suggested editions:- Shakespeare's Montaigne (New York Review Books Classics)
Editors: Stephen Greenblatt and Peter G. Platt.
This is a curated selection of the specific essays that influenced the Elizabethan era. The editors modernize the spelling while preserving Florio's rhythmic, eccentric prose. It includes an introduction mapping out the exact textual overlaps with Shakespeare's plays. 460 pages (no index!) - The Essays of Montaigne (Everyman's Library / J.M. Dent)
If you want all three volumes (the complete unabridged works) rather than a curated selection, look for the vintage or reprinted three-volume Everyman's Library sets featuring Florio's text. They preserve the historic integrity of the translation but include clean layouts and vital contextual footnotes. 1400 pages. - Free/Digital Option: Renascence Editions (University of Oregon)
If you want to see the text exactly as Shakespeare would have read Florio's work on a 17th-century printing press, the Luminarium Renascence Editions provide an unmodernized, open-access digital version of the 1603 folio. - Michel de Montaigne: The Complete Essays, translated by M. A. Screech (Penguin Classics) is a very readable and complete edition. Published in 1993, it is a modern translation. 1300 pages, includes a limited index.
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Facilitated by Robin Williams and Jenny Kirby.7 attendees - Shakespeare's Montaigne (New York Review Books Classics)
- $1.50
Shakespeare's Sources • Montaigne 3
·OnlineOnlineIt is well established that Shakespeare was quite familiar with the essays of Montaigne. We will peruse a number of essays that have reflections in the plays.
From the Everyman edition: “Humanist, skeptic, acute observer of himself and others, Michel de Montaigne (1533–92) was the first to use the term “essay” to refer to the form he pioneered, and he has remained one of its most famous practitioners. He reflected on the great themes of existence in his wise and engaging writings, his subjects ranging from proper conversation and good reading, to the raising of children and the endurance of pain, from solitude, destiny, time, and custom, to truth, consciousness, and death. Having stood the test of time, his essays continue to influence writers nearly five hundred years later.”
Join us as we read an essay or three at home, then convene on Zoom to discuss what we read.
If you can get a copy of a Florio translation (see below), then you will be reading the same text that Shakespeare read.
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
Session Three: Let's read: On the Affection of Fathers for their Children, Book 2, Chapter 8. About 21 pages.
Also read, in King Lear, Edmund's forged letter on the tyranny of old age: Act 1.2, about lines 47 to 59, as Gloucester reads the letter.
. . . . . . . . . . .
When you click to RSVP, there is a small fee that you can pay with either a PayPal account or a credit card. After you rsvp/pay, the link appears on the right.
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
Some suggested editions:- Shakespeare's Montaigne (New York Review Books Classics)
Editors: Stephen Greenblatt and Peter G. Platt.
This is a curated selection of the specific essays that influenced the Elizabethan era. The editors modernize the spelling while preserving Florio's rhythmic, eccentric prose. It includes an introduction mapping out the exact textual overlaps with Shakespeare's plays. 460 pages (no index!) - The Essays of Montaigne (Everyman's Library / J.M. Dent)
If you want all three volumes (the complete unabridged works) rather than a curated selection, look for the vintage or reprinted three-volume Everyman's Library sets featuring Florio's text. They preserve the historic integrity of the translation but include clean layouts and vital contextual footnotes. 1400 pages. - Free/Digital Option: Renascence Editions (University of Oregon)
If you want to see the text exactly as Shakespeare would have read Florio's work on a 17th-century printing press, the Luminarium Renascence Editions provide an unmodernized, open-access digital version of the 1603 folio. - Michel de Montaigne: The Complete Essays, translated by M. A. Screech (Penguin Classics) is a very readable and complete edition. Published in 1993, it is a modern translation. 1300 pages, includes a limited index.
. . . . . . . . . . .
Facilitated by Robin Williams and Jenny Kirby.5 attendees - Shakespeare's Montaigne (New York Review Books Classics)
Past events
1646
