Hamlet's Dresser

Bob Smith

Interviewed a guy named Bob Smith (yes, Bob Smith) yesterday. He's written a book called "Hamlet's Dresser." When the publicist was pitching it to me, she said it was a memoir of a lonely guy and how his love for Shakespeare got him through.

I was intrigued, in some perverse way -- maybe because I trust this publicist -- but not looking forward to the book. Well, it's a lot like "Angela's Ashes," and I mean that in the best way. The prose is luminous; it's as if Smith wrote it out, and worked it over and over and over until it shimmered like diamonds. Which, really, he did (it took him five years, and he told me he'd write it out longhand, record it, rewrite it, give it to a typist, change it ... you get the idea).

There are two parallel stories. The first concerns Smith's career, which is "teaching" (really, lecturing on and talking about) Shakespeare to older folks. The other is his life growing up with two distant parents and a developmentally disabled -- what was called retarded -- sister in the '40s and '50s. Caring for the girl practically ripped the family apart. Smith sought solace in Shakespeare.

Smith switches back and forth seamlessly between the past and present, punctuated with Shakespeare quotations. The effect is quite moving, even as he expresses the most awful loneliness.

He was also quite an engaging interview. I'd love to sit in with one of his Shakespeare classes. I never did get the Bard much.