To celebrate the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death, his plays are retold by famous writers. The Shakespeare Project was prepared by Wydawnictwo Dolnośląskie in collaboration with The Hogarth Press
Man Booker Prize-winner Howard Jacobson brings a poignant retelling of The Merchant of Venice, a drama which Jacobson himself considers to be “the most troubling of Shakespeare’s plays for anyone, but, for an English novelist who happens to be Jewish, also the most challenging.”
With an absent wife and a daughter going off the rails, wealthy art collector and philanthropist Simon Strulovitch is in need of someone to talk to. So when he meets Shylock at a cemetery, he invites him back to his house. It’s the beginning of a remarkable friendship.
Howard Jacobson’s version of The Merchant of Venice bends time to its own advantage as it asks what it means to be a father, a Jew and a merciful human being in the modern world.
Polish edition will be published by Wydawnictwo Dolnośląskie in April, when 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death will be celebrated.