YOUNG SHAKESPEARE

Although the jacket promises that "casual readers will find a new way of looking at [the Bard]," there's nothing casual about this study. Fraser has written a detailed thesis of sixteenth-century English culture, interweaving it with coded and decoded references from Shakespeare's plays and sonnets. While very few anecdotes of his actual biography make an appearance, some portions of Shakespeare's work become clearer through Fraser's references to his lifestyle. Barrett Whitener brings perfect enunciation and chalky dryness to the scholarly work, raising and lowering his voice at appropriate moments, but without any emotional involvement. He is forgiven, however, as there's nothing involving in the text. R.P.L. (c) AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine [Published: DEC/ JAN 02]