Q: In recent years there has been a trend of very senior scholars writing big, ambitious books about Shakespeare for the general reader--Stephen Greenblatt's and James Shapiro's biographies, and Harold Bloom's and Sir Frank Kermode's studies. And now A. D. Nuttall of Oxford enters the fray. What more can be said about Shakespeare that hasn't already been said?  How is this book different?   A: First, this isn't a biography--of the titles mentioned, the Bloom and the Kermode come closest. But my book is more intently engaged with ideas and with (dramatically conducted) argument than any of these. Everyone knows that Shakespeare excels in imagination and rhetorical power. This book argues that he was also very intelligent--both philosophically and psychologically.

There are certain questions that fascinate Shakespeare, and he returns to them repeatedly, but in always new and different ways.     Q: In pursuit of Shakespeare's thought and particular preoccupations, you follow the plays in chronological order, is that right?   A: Yes, but only roughly in chronological order. I broke with chronology if, say, a certain play was closely linked in argument with another but was written some time before. In a sense, though, it was Shakespeare himself who determined the exact sequence in which I took up the plays for consideration.     Q: Shakespeare the Thinker seems to me an extremely personal book, more personal than any of your previous books. Do you think that's a fair statement?   A: Well, this book comes after a lifetime of thinking about, and teaching, Shakespeare. You wondered, earlier, whether it's possible to say anything new about Shakespeare. I'm quite sure it is.

I have taught Shakespeare for many years--and each year was completely different from the one before. With Shakespeare, one always finds more. Among other things I hope the book demonstrates something of the distinctive essence of each play. I wanted to provide an introduction to the plays--and to do it without compromising--without ever pretending that Shakespeare is simpler or shallower than he really is. .