Shakespeare's Birthday Lecture: "Shakespeare's Life Stories"

"This article is about the annual Shakespeare Birthday lecture. For other articles about Shakespeare's Birthday, see Shakespeare's Birthday (disambiguation).

For more past programming from the Folger Institute, please see the article Folger Institute scholarly programs archive.

This was a lecture given by Stephen Greenblatt on April 25, 2016, as part of the 2016 Anniversary Lecture Series.

"In this harsh world draw thy breath in pain,” the dying Hamlet tells Horatio, “To tell my story.” Professor Greenblatt's lecture is about what it means for Hamlet – and for Shakespeare – to believe that life is a story that can and must be told.

Listen to the lecture here.

Read the transcript.

Lecturer: Stephen Greenblatt is the John Cogan University Professor of the Humanities at Harvard University. He has written more than a dozen books, including the bestseller, Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare, and The Swerve: How the World Became Modern. He has recently won Norway’s Holberg Prize, which is awarded annually to scholars who have made outstanding contributions to research in the arts, humanities, the social sciences, law, or theology.