January 19, 2001

Norton Wins Bidding War Over New Work on Shakespeare's World; Gender-Studies Journal Publishes Double Issue Defending Judith Butler

By JENNIFER K. RUARK

SHAKESPEARE IN LIFE: In her 11 years as a literary agent, Jill Kneerim says she's never experienced a bidding war like the one for Stephen Greenblatt's latest book project. Fourteen publishers battled for a week over the literary scholar's proposed book about Shakespeare -- among them, Harvard University Press, Princeton University Press, the University of Chicago Press, Oxford University Press, and 10 trade houses. The winner: W.W. Norton, which came through right