From Publishers Weekly
This is a thoroughly engaging account of one man's late-life passion and his attempts, mainly successful, at pitching it to others. At age 67, having retired after a long and distinguished career in publishing, Gollob surprised himself and everyone around him by parlaying his recently acquired fanaticism for the Bard into a position teaching Shakespeare at an elder hostel. The conversion experience had come when Gollob witnessed Ralph Fiennes's acclaimed 1995 Broadway performance in Hamlet. Gollob had already recovered his Jewish roots, having had a bar-mitzvah in middle age; combining his two passions, he began to make connections between the Torah and Shakespeare. After several terms as a popular instructor, Gollob decided he needed to go back to school and enrolled in a short course on Shakespeare at Oxford, where he was so taken with his studies that he quotes big sections of his term paper (a Judaic reading of King Lear) and notes that even though he far exceeds the 15-minute limit for oral reports, his teacher exclaims that she was too rapt by his presentation to interrupt. Gollob fails to distinguish the various voices in his overearnest dialogue, and he has the autodidact's habit of proclaiming as original discoveries that have been generally accepted by scholars for years. But his enthusiasm for his subject is infectious describing a pub meal with fellow Oxford scholars following an eye-opening morning of research, he asks, "Was that the happiest moment of my life or what?" and his boyish zeal comes across as a call to arms to all readers who've ever contemplated changing their lives.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Inviting the reader to share in his personal quest, Gollob details his obsession with Shakespeare. An editor for such publishing houses as Simon & Schuster, Doubleday, and Little, Brown, Gollob left his work behind to chase down the Bard after seeing a Broadway production of Hamlet starring Ralph Fiennes. Here, he offers detailed inside views of the publishing world, the Folger Shakespeare Library, the newly constructed Globe Theater, an Oxford University course on Shakespeare, and a host of actors, directors, and assorted celebrities. His insights and discoveries on all things Shakespearean are sharp and well considered, and his take on Hamlet is particularly revealing of himself and of the text. Gollob is a man in love with books, indeed one who has spent a lifetime involved with books; that love and knowledge are present on every page. While some of his adventures are more interesting than others, his excitement about his journey is addictive. The result is a unique book dense with living and learning. Recommended for all public libraries. Neal Wyatt, Chesterfield Cty. P.L., VA
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
