I wanted to hold onto and exploit the power of narrative. This is not… — Stephen Greenblatt

I wanted to hold onto and exploit the power of narrative. This is not only a book about a great storyteller, but there have to be stories about the storyteller.

Stephen GreenblattCritic · American · b. 1943

More from Stephen Greenblatt

First-person narrators is the way I know how to write a book with the greatest power and chance of artistic success. — Anne Rice
Properly, we should read for power. Man reading should be man intensely alive. The book should be a ball of light in one's hand. — Ezra Pound
We should be as careful of the books we read, as of the company we keep. The dead very often have more power than the living. — Tryon Edwards
What we know is that Shakespeare wrote perhaps the most remarkable body of passionate love poetry in the English language to a young man. — Stephen Greenblatt
The Shakespeare that Shakespeare became is the name that's attached to these astonishing objects that he left behind. — Stephen Greenblatt
First of all, Shakespeare is about pleasure and interest. He was from the first moment he actually wrote something for the stage, and he remains so. — Stephen Greenblatt