What Blest Genius?

The Jubilee That Made Shakespeare

By: Andrew McConnell Stott

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Hardcover | 3 May 2019 | Edition Number 2

At a Glance

Hardcover
208 Pages

Edition Type
Revised

Dimensions(cm)
2.16 x 1.46 x 0.22

Hardcover

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In September 1769, three thousand people descended on Stratford-upon-Avon to celebrate the artistic legacy of the town's most famous son, William Shakespeare. Attendees included the rich and powerful, the fashionable and the curious, eligible ladies and fortune hunters, and a horde of journalists and profiteers. For three days, they paraded through garlanded streets, listened to songs and oratorios, and enjoyed masked balls. It was a unique cultural moment--a coronation elevating Shakespeare to the throne of genius.

Except it was a disaster. The poorly planned Jubilee imposed an army of Londoners on a backwater hamlet peopled by hostile and superstitious locals, unable and unwilling to meet their demands. Even nature refused to behave. Rain fell in sheets, flooding tents and dampening fireworks, and threatening to wash the whole town away.

Told from the dual perspectives of David Garrick, who masterminded the Jubilee, and James Boswell, who attended it, What Blest Genius? is rich with humor, gossip, and theatrical intrigue. Recounting the absurd and chaotic glory of those three days in September, Andrew McConnell Stott illuminates the circumstances in which William Shakespeare became a transcendent global icon.

Industry Reviews

"McConnell Stott's wildly exuberant new book... has brought this odd and oddly resonant event to enchanting and illuminating life." -- Simon Callow - The Sunday Times
"McConnell Stott writes with a clear brisk style and also an evident enjoyment of language..." -- Times Literary Supplement
"... highly entertaining book... sharp-eyed and funny account... Stott's book is a glorious study of the mother of all heritage events, and it's an excellent reminder of why they should be avoided like the plague." -- Emma Smith, Book of the Week - The Guardian
"... curious, passionate revisions of the Shakespearean myth... remind me why I came to enjoy Shakespeare so much in the first place." -- Emma Smith - Literary Review
"This is the hilarious tale of a poorly organised three-day festival in Stratford-Upon-Avon in 1769 that launched the bard into the mega-celeb he is today... A comedy of errors as funny as Twenty Twelve." -- Literature Books of the Year 2019 - The Sunday Times
"... lively account..." -- 100 sizzling summer books - Mail Online
"On the non-fiction side I enjoyed What Blest Genius? by Andrew McConnell Stott, a diverting account of the Shakespeare Jubilee of 1769 in Stratford-upon-Avon..." -- Nick Curtis, The Best Books of 2019 - Evening Standard

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