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'A startlingly original journey into the soul of Shakespeare by one of his greatest living interpreters.' - Sir Antony Seldon. Whether audience, actor or scholar, Bate represents his own personal 'madness' and the importance of reading and talking about reading with people, young and old. Bate has devoted his professional life to reading, teaching and writing about literature, and in his brave and candid memoir takes us on a sad, uplifting and inspiring journey into the classroom to witness great Shakespearian actors in the theatre. His examples include an array of writers including Virginia Woolf, Sylvia Plath, Edward Thomas and Dr Johnson himself, who even as they struggled with mental illness took inspiration from the greatest of all writers - William Shakespeare. Shakespeare's world is permeated with the same existential questions and domestic worries as ours today and Bate investigates losses and challenges and asks whether, if you persevere with Shakespeare, he can offer a word of wisdom or a human insight for any time of crisis. Along the way we also meet actors such as Judi Dench and Simon Callow and writers Keats, Austen and the Brontes and Ben Jonson. 303pp with fairly large print, illus.