Supernatural Shakespeare: Magic and Ritual in Merry Old England

Immerse yourself in Shakespeare's magical world, filled with supernatural encounters with faeries, ghosts and witches. Frolic with royalty, wander through forests, and experience love layered with enchantment. The Bard's use of these fantastical phenomena has had a tremendous and enduring influence on authors and audiences for more than four centuries. But what are their origins? Explore the folk beliefs and literary sources that influenced Shakespeare and discover how he assembled his own masterful portraits of these phenomena, giving his plays vibrant life and his characters unforgettable personalities.


About the Author
The best advice j. Snodgrass ever received as a writer was, "Don't write what you know, write what you would like to read." To which he adds, "And learn it before you write it." This is what led to Supernatural Shakespeare. After many years of merely liking or disliking Shakespeare's plays, he decided to learn them. However, he could not find the one book he really would have liked to read; it did not yet exist. So he wrote it. Snodgrass studies, teaches, and writes about myth and ritual, and as a college professor he explores the connections between mythology and sociology in religions.