Today Bookpleasures is honored to have as our guest Prof. Debra L. Johanyak author of Shakespeare's World.

Thank you Prof. Johanyak for consenting to the following interview.

Could you please tell our readers something about yourself, your educational background, writing experience and present position you hold as Professor of English, The University of Akron Wayne College.

I studied literature at The University of Akron, Shiraz University, and finally Kent State University, where I graduated with a Ph.D. in English. Since 1992 I have taught writing and literature, including a course titled SHAKESPEARE AND HIS WORLD, at The University of Akron Wayne College where I currently hold the rank of Professor of English. I also am a member of the steering committee that organizes our campus’ annual Shakespeare Festival the first week in October, featuring the Shenandoah Shakespeare Express troupe from Staunton, Virginia. To help sponsor the Festival I have written grants to obtain community support.

Why did you want to write a book about Shakespeare's world and what were your objectives?

In teaching Shakespeare and bringing the Festival to our campus community, I realized that many people did not know a great deal about William Shakespeare’s work and times. Many felt that current textbooks or library holdings were formidable to the general reader. Some handbooks are lengthy, others are dry, and many are ponderous. Books like these repel rather than attract readers. So my goal emerged to write a simple, readable text that offers an enjoyable, common sense approach to understanding the backdrop of Shakespeare’s marvelous plays and poems. Rather than digging into his works, I dug around them, exploring the cultural environment in which Shakespeare lived and wrote. I found the time period fascinating, and I wanted to share exciting facts in my book to help readers gain access to and appreciate Shakespeare’s work, which, after all, was written for all classes of people, not just the elite.

How long did it take you to write the book, and how easy or difficult was it to bring in so much information in a book that is only 271 pages?

In 1997 during a trip to England, I began collecting information to supplement the teaching materials and handbook I currently was using for my Shakespeare course in the States. As ideas developed about ways to use additional materials, I made a research visit to the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C. The idea of a book began to take shape, and in 1999 I submitted my proposal to Prentice Hall. Within a year I had signed a publishing contract, with the final manuscript completed a year later. My original research was much more inclusive than the published text, but eventually I decided to trim the final product in order to provide more of an overview rather than an in-depth analysis. At the end of each chapter are questions and project options for readers who wish to pursue individualized streams of study at a deeper level. My book’s goal is to whet readers’ appetites for more Shakespeare, which they can pursue at their own pace.

At what age do you feel students should be introduced to Shakespeare, and how should it be presented in order that it is made interesting?

Simplified Shakespeare dramas, visual aids, and teaching materials are available today even to elementary school teachers. Picture books, videos, and posters illustrate his life and works to make them more interesting and meaningful for younger readers. Acting out scenes or trading insults or compliments in Shakespeare’s early modern lingo is a fun activity for children discovering the art of rhetoric and “secret codes” embedded in language. In an American classic book titled A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Francie Nolan’s mother reads her two children a page both from Shakespeare and the Bible each day in an effort to instill in them literacy and morality. Modern parents could do worse!

What is your favorite Shakespearian play and why?

I enjoy many for a variety of reasons: pathos in Romeo and Juliet, classical feminism in Antony and Cleopatra, and sheer, fanciful humor starring Falstaff in The Merry Wives of Windsor. Perhaps a favorite is Hamlet, with its inexplicable yet undeniable human nature that ripples through family circles, leading to irreparable damage. I can relate to Hamlet’s melancholy and pensive nature that struggles with the call to action.

Have you ever wondered why some of Shakespeare's characters go on forever and why? What can we learn from reading Shakespeare's plays?

Shakespeare’s work displays wonderful understanding of the human condition. His revelation of an infatuated young girl’s soul or an elderly gentleman’s lament following his offspring’s betrayal, along with a housewife’s domestic fluttering or a servant’s crafty plan for self-advancement are amazing when we consider these portrayals all come from the mind of a man who grew up in a market town, became a teenage husband and father, and made a fortune in London theatre without the benefit of a university education. We see the universal value of his characters today in films like WEST SIDE STORY or stage adaptations of his dramas. I still chuckle at his jests and weep at his sorrows when reading or viewing the dramas.

Do you intend to write a follow up to Shakespeare's World?

I’ll wait to see how helpful this book becomes to readers and students. If it lights fires under those who might not have favored Shakespeare previously, then I may be tempted to consider a sequel that would focus more on the “discovery” aspects (cultural and colonial) of Shakespeare’s world to examine their influence on his writing.

Thank you once again Prof. Johanyak and good luck with your book.

Thank you very much, sir, for the opportunity of discussing my book. It was a pleasure writing it, and I certainly hope Shakespeare’s World will brighten readers’ study of William Shakespeare’s work and era.

To read the review of Prof. Johanyak's book click HERE