Shakespeare Saved My Life: Ten Years in Solitary With the Bard, by Laura Bates
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Shakespeare Saved My Life: Ten Years in Solitary With the Bard, by Laura Bates
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Shakespeare professor and prison volunteer Laura Bates thought she had seen it all. That is, until she decided to teach Shakespeare in a place the bard had never been before-supermax solitary confinement. In this unwelcoming place, surrounded by inmates known as the worst of the worst, is Larry Newton. A convicted murderer with several escape attempts under his belt and a brilliantly agile mind on his shoulders, Larry was trying to break out of prison at the same time Laura was fighting to get her program started behind bars. Thus begins the most unlikely of friendships, one bonded by Shakespeare and lasting years-a friendship that, in the end, would save more than one life.
Shakespeare Saved My Life: Ten Years in Solitary With the Bard, by Laura Bates- Amazon Sales Rank: #3109834 in Books
- Published on: 2015-05-19
- Formats: Audiobook, MP3 Audio, Unabridged
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 7.40" h x .60" w x 5.30" l,
- Running time: 7 Hours
- Binding: MP3 CD
From Booklist From breaking out to breaking through, that’s what reading Shakespeare did for Indiana federal prison inmate Larry Newton, who was locked in solitary confinement for more than 10 years. His story is recounted by English professor Bates, who taught the “Shakespeare in Shackles” class that gave Newton, convicted of murder as a teenager, his new lease on life. Bates describes the program, but the core of the text is given over to Newton as he poses challenging questions from Shakespeare’s works about such topics as honor, revenge, and conscience, forcing prisoners to consider their own actions in a new light. Macbeth and Hamlet are the primary targets of examination, but the inmates take fresh approaches to several plays. The short chapters are like Bates’ glimpses into the cells through cuff boxes. It’s clear she is impressed with Larry, and while his work is remarkable, it’s also repetitive. But the journey he makes and the impact it has on Bates herself combine to form a powerful testament to how Shakespeare continues to speak to contemporary readers in all sorts of circumstances. --Bridget Thoreson
Review "Macbeth and Hamlet are the primary targets of examination, but the inmates take fresh approaches to several plays." ---Booklist
About the Author Laura Bates is an English professor at Indiana State University, where she has taught courses on Shakespeare for the past 15 years to students on campus and in prison. Her work has been featured in national media, including MSNBC's Lock Up. Laura lives in Indiana.Actress and director Cassandra Campbell has narrated nearly two hundred audiobooks and has received multiple Audie Awards and more than twenty AudioFile Earphones Awards, including for Orange Is the New Black by Piper Kerman.
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67 of 68 people found the following review helpful. Completely changed how I read Shakespeare! By Mary Lavers (in Canada) My first reaction when I saw this book was, "Great, EVERYONE is reading Shakespeare before I do. Even people in solitary confinement!" I'd recently decided to read all of Shakespeare's plays in a year and I was finding it slow going. But the prisoners that Laura Bates described in this book seemed to breeze through the plays, even if they had limited education and no previous knowledge of the bard. If they could do it, what the hell was my excuse?Once I got past my petty jealousy, this book spoke to me on a lot of levels. Laura Bates is an English professor who has been teaching Shakespeare for years, both in colleges and in prisons. This book recounts her experiences with the latter, particularly in a supermax--or solitary confinement--unit. A great number of my family members work in corrections, including in prisons, and I myself had helped start a writing and spoken word program at a women's prison here in Nova Scotia. So I didn't need to be convinced of the value of prisoner education. And, as I mentioned, I'd recently started a Shakespeare in a Year project in which I was attempting to read the Complete Works of Shakespeare (or at the very least the plays) before the end of the year. So I didn't need to be convinced of the value of Shakespeare.Still, this book surprised me in a lot of ways.The thing that struck me most about Laura Bates' experiences teaching Shakespeare in prison was the way the inmates interpreted certain passages. Dr. Bates deliberately chose plays she thought might speak to them, plays about crime (Macbeth) or imprisonment (Richard III) or loss of power (King Lear) or violence and revenge (Titus Andronicus). Even so, the inmates' reactions to them often changed the way I myself was reading the material.As an example, when discussing the murder of King Duncan in Macbeth, one part that often stumps literary critics is why Macbeth is able to kill Duncan but cannot seem to complete the plan by planting the bloody daggers on the sleeping guards, implicating them. He balks at this and wanders off, forcing Lady Macbeth to complete the task. Why? I, like many critics, interpreted Macbeth's actions as evidence of doubt, of lack of conviction to the plan. Lady Macbeth, by contrast, seems like the pushier of the two in this scene ("Fine! I have to do everything myself, do I?").But the inmates had a different interpretation:"'He needs for her to get her hands dirty too', said the new student in the group named Bentley...When Bentley made the observation about Macbeth's need for a partner in crime, the others, all serving time for murder convictions, agreed. It is easier to bear the burden of guilt, especially of such a heavy crime, my students said, with an accomplice.Genius.That not only changes how I feel about that scene, it changes how I feel about the relationship between Macbeth and his wife. Is Lady Macbeth really the mastermind who pushes her husband, unwillingly, into a series of murders? Or is Macbeth pulling his wife further into their crime spree so she shares his culpability?There are a lot of other examples of the inmates' interpretations of Shakespeare (the comparison of Titus Andronicus to Mister Rogers' Neighborhood is worth the price of admission alone) and they're all fantastic. Even if you got nothing else out of the book, these insights are more than worth the read.Keep checking this blog for an upcoming interview with the author and a chance to win a copy of the book!Disclaimer: I received a digital galley of this book free from the publisher from NetGalley. I was not obliged to write a favourable review, or even any review at all. The opinions expressed are strictly my own.
24 of 25 people found the following review helpful. "They just put themselves into so many prisons." By E. Bukowsky Larry Newton is a convicted murderer serving a life sentence with no possibility of parole. He is also, according to the distinguished scholar David Bevington, "a serious person, gracious, good-humored, [and] alive with intellectual curiosity." Laura Bates is an English professor who earned her PhD from the University of Chicago. "Shakespeare Saved My Life" is Bates's remarkable account of her volunteer work in various correctional facilities, where she used the plays of William Shakespeare as a vehicle to broaden the convicts' understanding of themselves and the world. The impact of Shakespeare's works on Larry Newton was so powerful that he became an influential teacher, prepared detailed workbooks to help inmates study Shakespeare, and helped create videos to inform other inmates about the relevance of the Bard to their lives.Shakespeare's grasp of the nuances of human nature still resonates more than four hundred years after his plays were written and performed. Jealousy, ambition, and the desire for revenge can poison a person's soul; guilt has the power to corrode a person's mind. As Newton wisely points out in the quotation preceding this review, many of us unwittingly create our own prisons. Those who end up serving long sentences gave in to negative peer pressure, acted impulsively, and allowed ugly emotions to guide their actions. As a result, they forfeited their freedom and their chance to becoming productive members of society.In brief and lively chapters, Bates describes how she taught Shakespeare's works in "supermax," a long-term solitary confinement unit in Indiana. She also addresses controversial questions: Should the state pay for educational programs to rehabilitate criminals? Need we be concerned about the inhumane and unsanitary conditions that exist in some American prisons? Can we prevent juvenile offenders from become career criminals? In addition, Bates reveals the many insights she gained while working with Newton and his fellow convicts--not just into Shakespeare's words but also into her own capabilities. Professor Bates believes that each of us has untapped potential; even the most feared and despised members of society may have the desire and ability to soar beyond their prison walls.
57 of 70 people found the following review helpful. Maybe I am too cynical to accept this at face value By retiredandlovinit As a retired English teacher and HS principal, I am conflicted about this book.On one hand, you can consider it a well-written piece of congratulatory non-fiction, detailing how college professor Dr. Bates brought her Shakespeare classes to Indiana prisons, including a supermax SHU (Segregated Housing Unit) to help rehabilitate the worst of the worst, most violent murderers, rapists and other felons through her efforts. Her star pupil is a 30-year-old killer named Larry Newton, who murdered a college student in an alley by shooting him in cold blood thirteen years ago, as the student was walking his girlfriend home from a party. Newton, who had gone through many forms of abuse as a child and spent large amounts of time in various juvenile detention systems for many offenses prior to the murder, pled guilty in exchange for a life sentence with no possibility of parole. He is in SHU due to several escape attempts including stabbing a guard, but Dr. Bates is able to reach the very bright Newton through detailed study of Shakespeare's bloodiest tragedies: Macbeth, Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Othello. Newton comes to see his own actions through a new light, and in turn reaches out to other prisoners and young offenders by writing student workbooks, leading discussion groups, and participating in prisoner-made video interpretations of the works. Following positive media coverage, Newton rises through the prison system, eventually returning to the general inmate population, all the while forming a strong emotional bond with the professor. At book's end, both seemingly are better people for knowing each other and being able to overcome their own individual "prisons" of the mind. And the budget-cutting state of Indiana has revoked the funding for such programs as these that provide free college classes for prisoners.On the other hand, you can consider this book as a textbook case of two people manipulating each other and the system to get what they want. Although Dr. Bates seems very sincere, even noble, in wanting to help these damaged felons, she glosses over her own reasons for subjecting herself to this dangerous environment, while admitting that she desperately wants to earn tenure at her university, and seems to bask in the positive publicity her efforts receive from her administrators and the media. And there is no doubt that murderer Newton benefits greatly from his participation in the Shakespeare activities, gaining personal acclaim and a return to the general prison population through his participation. Maybe he is now able to look back at his crimes and regret the decisions he made as a young man. But it is impossible to see within a person's heart to know what is real understanding and what is self-serving manipulation. Newton admonishes us to "remember that the person is not the crime" and that all of us suffer from our own bad decisions and internal prisons. But there is NO escaping the fact that a young college student was brutally murderered in an alley, just because a Newton and some buddies were cruising around looking for someone to attack. No rehabilitation or Shakespearean play will ever end that tragedy for his family.So is this a book you should read? Probably yes, but be prepared to have real mixed feelings about what transpires. There are valid points on both sides of the punishment vs. rehabilitation argument. But it would be interesting to find out other readers' reactions to the Mother's Day card and personal message Newton sends to the childless Dr. Bates towards the end of the book. Heartfelt thanks or master emotional manipulation? Tough to decide . . .
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