Talking Books with Russ McDonald

[Michael P. Jensen’s interview of Russ McDonald appeared in the latest issue of The Shakespeare Newsletter (65.2, 75-81), only weeks before Dr. McDonald’s sudden, shocking passing. I share it here as part tribute, part memorial. Taken all in all, this true Shakespearean, scholar, teacher, and colleague was a blessing to the academic community. His work will continue to be. ~T.J. Moretti, Editor]

Michael P. Jensen

I was so starved to have some chat about Shakespeare in 1999 that I took a continuing studies class at Stanford built around the plays performed at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival that year. Instructor Cheri Ross, later at Duke University, assigned the first edition of The Bedford Companion to Shakespeare: An Introduction with Documents to supplement the reading of the plays.

I thought I was above this introductory guide, but I was so impressed by Russ McDonald’s lucid coverage that I read beyond the weekly assignments and devoured the entire book. The chapter that convinced me to do this is on Shakespeare’s language (2nd ed., 36-58). I know of no other area of Shakespeare studies that is so difficult to express clearly without losing the reader. The chapter is brilliant. I refer to the chart showing the relative portions of poetry and prose in each of Shakespeare’s plays at least once a year (77-8). The second edition was published by St. Martin’s in 2001. A…