A Shakespeare scholar and anthroposophist, John O’Meara in The Bereaved Writer extends his account of his life as presented in his main memoir, Defending Her Son. Here he covers the 8 years that follow from where he left off, filling out on a larger scale the anthroposophical approach he has taken to Shakespeare over many years. Relating his critical production to the personal circumstances of his life, O’Meara comments on the more problematic basis of his writing since his memoir came out, his growing sense of separation from the inspiriting power of his Mother Muse. No longer supported against the world’s incomprehension, he seeks a way to free himself from the entanglements of his own cause.

And let me begin by a deliberate act of un-knowing … I who am a voice that no longer promises, a voice that has fragmented and is now failing.

John O’Meara has published numerous studies in the fields of Shakespeare, Anthroposophy, and the Romantics. He is the author also of Crossroads: Sketches and Stories from ‘La Nouvelle France’, to which the present work serves, additionally, as background. Visit the author’s website at johnomeara.squarespace.com.