I probably would not have picked up Shakespeare''s Philosophy by Colin McGinn if I hadn't recently read Bryson's Shakespeare (see below), but I'm glad I did. It is the hardest reading work I've done in some time. I had to keep a vocabulary notebook for terms like epistemological, aporias, teleological, and veridically. The most thought-provoking theme he explicated was the inaccessibility of others' minds. I wrote a double-entry journal on a section of his Othello chapter on that. McGinn discusses Hamlet, MacBeth, Othello, King Lear, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and The Tempest. I feel the need to watch, read, or reread them all now.
How to rate this? "Of its type"? What is its type? Philosophy, I scarcely feel qualified to judge. Books on Shakespeare, not much more. Let me say that if you enjoy the plays and appreciate any kind of critical writing about them you will appreciate this book. If you read the Bryson and want to investigate the thinking this is a good book. So that makes it ****, but for a very limited audience, I'm sure.
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