MOTIVELESS MALIGNITY

by Louis Auchincloss ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 1, 1969

Whatever stature Louis Auchincloss-may have as a novelist will surely not be augmented by adding, as he says, ""My drop to the ocean of Shakespearean comment."" Auchincloss, of course, is a daring fellow. An amateur critic at best, he nevertheless courts comparison with the great Coleridge by using the latter's famous reference to Iago--""The motive-hunting of motiveless malignity""--as the title for these peculiarly vapid essays. No doubt, Shakespeare being so ""myriad-minded"" any interpretation of his work is bound to be foolproof, yet geniality and personal reminiscences can hardly take the place of scholarship, nor can dramatic upholstery (""Iago is evil; he is the evil in man and in Othello--not because Othello is peculiarly evil, but because Othello is a man"") cover up a banal observation. Since Johnson it has been customary to speak of Shakespeare's ""amorality."" Thus it is difficult to appreciate Auchincloss' insistence on the Bard's ""sense of the perverse and irrational in human nature,"" especially when so unexceptional a designation is presented without even the courtesy of a nod towards existential or Freudian ramifications. Nor does Auchincloss' inevitable detective work re the sonnets mean much if no mention is made of the important study of Mr. W. H. recently published by Leslie Hotson. One hesitates to bear down on such a gentlemanly infatuation, but where giants have toiled, perhaps a critical ""home movie"" is inappropriate.

Pub Date: Aug. 1, 1969

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1969

Categories: NONFICTION