Shakespeare Knows Me Better Than My Boyfriend

‘Even today, most of those who talk about literature are elderly white professors. We must introduce new perspectives, fresh views of the classics. We urgently need to make literature more accessible, so that the canon will change from the outside,’ claimed Ibe Rossel in a popular podcast. With her nonfiction debut she has acted on her own advice. Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, Oscar Wilde, Jane Austen and George Eliot are great names in English literature, but for many readers they amount to no more than a distant memory of English lessons. After all, what does a dead author have to offer us today?

A great many life lessons is the answer, as Ibe Rossel makes clear in this inspiring mix of philology, millennial columns and autobiography. She derived everything of any importance in her young life from the classics. ‘Robinson Crusoe’ taught her that you’d better not have sex on your first date. Jane Austen gave her tips on flirting. George Eliot enabled her to get what she wants without a struggle and Shakespeare taught her all there is to know about jealousy. Novels are far more useful than our teachers led us to believe. This inventive, amusing literary treasure trove reveals what the classics really have to teach us.

Drawing upon six major authors including Kerouac and Salinger, Ibe Rossel guides us through life lessons, anecdotes and valuable facts about literature. She appeals for a new, contemporary reading of the classics.