When I decided to start this blog, I did a quick search for other, similar projects. I was hoping, of course, that I would be the first person to blog about reading Shakespeare’s work in one year.  My hope was hubris. When I found a few other writers and readers who had already started their Shakespeare projects I was discouraged and considered leaving aside the idea. I had to put aside my Julia & Julia dreams that I would be forging a new path and would channel an untapped community of Shakespeare fans who would flock to my blog.

But I decided to forge ahead once I examined my motivations more deeply. Life is short. I’m in my 40s, and reading all of Shakespeare is a worthy project in a human life. If I’m going to be shaped by what I consume (literarily speaking), then I want my reading to be the good stuff. I’ve had my fill of poorly executed films and depressing and pointless Booker Prize novels (not to mention some truly lousy video games). At the same time, I don’t want to surrender to something like Harold Bloom’s Wester Canon reading list. This isn’t about living up to someone else’s expectations about what the “right” books are. I know from my own experience that Shakespeare excites my intellect and inspires me with the achievements of a remarkable human lifetime. I feel like a better person when I’ve been reading Shakespeare.

In time I was encouraged that other bloggers were similarly inspired to write about their Shakespeare experiences. We form a small community across the Web, each of us motivated by something in our lives to pursue the avocation of Shakespeare. That’s a good thing. I’m eager to learn about these other amateur Shakespeare scholars. Hopefully, we can encourage each other to keep moving forward. One of my early discoveries was that a few “year of Shakespeare” projects have been cut off, either by personal difficulties or flagging motivation. I already started on this effort myself once, but for lack of a good plan and with some of my own personal difficulties, I stopped short

This time, I’m forging ahead with a commitment to have read all 39 Shakespeare’s plays–and a number of other books associated with Shakespeare’s world–by August of 2014. This will be just in time for me (and hopefully other Shakespeare readers who join in a year of Shakespeare) to meet up in Ashland, Oregon for the Shakespeare festival.

Shakespeare died at age 52. By the standards of the age he was an old man. In London, the majority of people died in their forties, if they made it past the high infant mortality rates and waves of plague as they grew (like the one that swept Stratford in Shakespeare’s youth). Queen Elizabeth was anomalous in many respects — surviving until age 69 (avoiding child birth certainly helped).

1592, according to Peter Ackroyd, is the year of Shakespeare’s London theatrical debut. His first works may have been composed as early as 1589. Given that Shakespeare’s last play was probably written in 1613 (he died in 1616), that means that the whole body of his work was composed in something like 24 years. He was living in a period where pamphlets and books where more readily available than every before, and he had had the good fortune of an early education and exposure to Latin and (perhaps) Greek literature. But, still, he does not seem to have ready many books. He probably didn’t have the opportunity. He was mocked by university-educated wits like Thomas Nashe and Robert Greene for his lack of erudition. But he kept on writing, acting, and succeeding.

When I consider that I can access Shakespeare’s complete works (not to mention millions of other texts) on my phone, and that my personal library, when considering these resources, eclipses that of all of the Elizabethan playwrights and poets put together, I’m a bit ashamed of what I’ve read and written so far. I’ve absolutely suffered from what Bloom called the “anxiety of influence.”

So the time is now to get started. Tempus fugit. Memento mori.

Incidentally, I did join a CrossFit gym, and I feel much healthier for it. I’m hoping my Shakespeare “workouts” will have the same kind of benefit for my mind.