By any other name: Her voice will be heard – Book review by Dr Anne Sarzin
Holiday reading: Jewish claimant to Shakespeare’s plays
The Elizabethan age was a crucible for creative endeavours unrivalled in subsequent centuries. What a miracle that William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe, two of the world’s greatest dramatists, should co-exist at that time. If it were not for a tavern brawl that ended Marlowe’s life so prematurely, might he have eclipsed the great Shakespeare? Shakespeare’s output was so prodigious, so poetic and profound, that some scholars have questioned whether it was humanly possibly to author a corpus of work of such magnitude and brilliance.
And now Jodi Picoult, a Jewish-American author, has written a novel that explores the life of Emilia Bassano, whom she presents as a credible contributor to Shakespeare’s plays. Picoult, known for her entertaining page-turners, has focused on the fascinating and brilliant Emilia Bassano, allegedly a converso with an Italian background living in London and practising her Jewish rituals in secret.
The historical Emilia Bassano Lanier was born and baptised in London in 1569. Her mother, Margaret Johnson, was English, and her father, Baptista Bassano, an Italian musician and instrument maker at Queen Elizabeth’s court, was most likely of Jewish parentage. The Bassanos migrated to England from Venice in the 1530s to play at Henry V111’s Tudor court. Emilia received a broad humanist education and, at the age of about 18, became the mistress of England’s Lord Chamberlain, Henry Carey, the renowned patron of the arts and, in particular, the patron of a company of actors called The Lord Chamberlain’s men. In 1599, these actors found a home in the newly constructed Globe Theatre. When Emilia became Henry’s mistress, she was thrust into the centre of an artistic world of creative diversity and excellence. In 1611, at the age of 42, she was the first woman in England to publish a substantial book of poetry, Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum, (Hail, God, King of the Jews). Written from a woman’s point of view, it has been hailed as the first feminist work published in England.
Jodi Picoult, in her novel, By any other name: Her voice will be heard, adds flesh to history’s skeletal bones. Her Emilia is charismatic, intellectual, magnetic and sensual, a phenomenal survivor of hardships and setbacks, seemingly adhering in times of crisis to the rituals of her Jewish faith and age-old prayers. Picoult’s portrait of Emilia is of a converso, someone aware of their Jewish heritage and cloaking this identity by assimilating within the wider society. She is a woman exposed to the ferment of ideas and artistic personalities of the Elizabethan age; and Picoult builds a persuasive case for her ability and role as a writer of Shakespeare’s plays or, at the very least, as a part-time collaborator. In her novel’s ‘Acknowledgments’, Picoult writes ‘Unlike those who have elevated Shakespeare to a one-man wonder who penned every word by himself, I am aware that no writing happens without collaboration.’
Picoult intertwines Emilia’s story with a contemporary narrative that some might find somewhat gratuitous and distracting. It focuses on an imagined descendant of Emilia’s, Melina Green, an aspiring playwright living in New York, who experiences in the 21st century many of the biases against women that her putative ancestor endured. Through this narrative device, PIcoult spans the centuries to explore prejudices and stereotypes prevailing in today’s world of theatre and in the arts generally.
Picoult, a New York Times bestselling author, has written 29 novels. She is a gifted storyteller, infusing pace and tension into this novel that is undoubtedly a page-turner. She has lifted Emilia from the dusty tomb of history and given her a vivid presence in this novel that is thoughtful and, above all, entertaining. While her style is essentially colloquial—many may categorise this novel as ‘chick-lit’—Picoult is adept at bringing to life the ferment of ideas around her central character. She tells a good story with a Jewish undertone that will interest many readers.
A good choice for light-hearted holiday reading in the leisurely weeks ahead.
By any other name: Her voice will be heard
Jodi Picoult
Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 2024
