SIR FRANK KERMODE may well be the best-read man in Britain. In the scope and depth of his learning, he is probablv unrivalled. Enelish dons and readers of the London ~kew of Books ha; known this for decades. Thanks to books like Shakespeare’s Language, whose combination of erudition and elegance made it a surprise bestseller in 2000, his reputation continues to spread among nonspecialist readers as he approaches his eighty-fourth birthday.

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