How
best to write a contemporary novel about Shakespeare that even
Shakespeare would like? Make him a young, sexy and smart ladies man
with a cause to suffer and enemies to fight. Give him lots of witty
puns to pronounce, a complicated family life and a good group of
friends. Finally, compare and contrast him with a graduate student
in 1980s California who, also named Shakespeare, is similarly
focused on amorous escapades, sidetracked by familial realities and
lost in a world of words.

This is Jess Winfield's formula in his debut novel, MY NAME IS
WILL.

William Shakespeare is not yet 20 years old. He is a school teacher
in his hometown of Stratford who prefers drinking ale with his
friends to Latin, and wooing girls to just about everything else.
His father is the town drunk, and visitors to the family's home are
greeted by a 10-foot garbage pile outside the front door. His
mother's family, the Ardens, were once well respected, but since
the Queen converted all of England to Protestantism, the Ardens, as
Catholics, have begun to fear persecution. All across the country,
Catholics, priests and scholars have been arrested, tortured and
executed. When William, never one to think too much about religion,
learns more about his own family's past and their current struggle
to maintain their faith, he must decide where his allegiance lies.
Does he risk life and limb for the Roman Church, or does he accept
the new faith? His soul-searching is complicated, however, by his
libido, which keeps getting him into trouble.

A few hundred years later, Willie Shakespeare Greenberg is
struggling with his masters thesis. He has a vague notion that the
original Shakespeare was Catholic, but he has very little to go on.
His research is complicated not only by his libido but by his
preference for getting high over doing any actual work. His father
is cutting him off financially, and so he agrees to deliver some
drugs to a Renaissance Faire to make some fast cash. But the trip
ends up mostly a disaster due to the affections of not two but
three women, the DEA and a gigantic magic mushroom.

It’s time for William and Willie to grow up. The one thing it
seems that will save them both is theater, if they decide to
channel their intellect and energy in that positive
direction.

Winfield's tale is funny and interesting. The parallels not only
between William and Willie but between 16th century England and
20th century America mostly work. Both eras were ones of rapid
social and political change, and both young men embody much of the
spirit, and conflict, of their times. William comes across as the
far more sympathetic character; he faces real danger and has few
options. This is the man long before he was The Bard but was still,
according to Winfield, a wise-cracking, rebellious teenager who,
deep down, longed to do the right thing. Willie is a bit spoiled
and harder to like. But, in his own deep love for the work of
Shakespeare (which connects him to his dead mother, who named him
with high hopes), Willie finds a path to his true self and readers
find a young man with potential for good and for greatness.

In MY NAME IS WILL, Winfield's own love of Shakespeare, love of
words and love of theater shine through. He plays with words and
captures the feeling of the times and places he is setting the
action in, yet the themes remain timeless. Despite a few less than
exemplary scenes, it is nicely written, enjoyable and full of
references to Shakespearean works that readers in the know will
have fun teasing out. In other words, this is a book that even
Shakespeare may have enjoyed.