Winter, a cemetery, Shylock. In this provocative and profound interpretation of “The Merchant of Venice,” Shylock is juxtaposed against his present-day counterpart in the character of art dealer and conflicted father Simon Strulovitch. With characteristic irony, Jacobson presents Shylock as a man of incisive wit and passion, concerned still with questions of identity, parenthood, anti-Semitism and revenge. While Strulovich struggles to reconcile himself to his daughter Beatrice's “betrayal” of her family and heritage – as she is carried away by the excitement of Manchester high society, and into the arms of a footballer notorious for giving a Nazi salute on the field – Shylock alternates grief for his beloved wife with rage against his own daughter's rejection of her Jewish upbringing. Culminating in a shocking twist on Shylock’s demand for the infamous pound of flesh, Jacobson’s insightful retelling examines contemporary, acutely relevant questions of Jewish identity while maintaining a poignant sympathy for its characters and a genuine spiritual kinship with its antecedent—a drama which Jacobson himself considers to be “the most troubling of Shakespeare’s plays for anyone, but, for an English novelist who happens to be Jewish, also the most challenging.”

霍华德·雅各布森 Howard Jacobson，英国犹太裔小说家、专栏作家，在剑桥大学塞尔文学院任教，自诩为 “犹太裔的简·奥斯丁”。他的主要作品包括：《强大的华尔泽》《此刻谁抱歉？》《卡鲁奇之夜》（入围2006年布克奖长名单）、《爱情迫害狂》等。2010年凭喜剧 小说《芬克勒问题》摘得布克奖。

霍华德·雅各布森最擅长描写人们在自我身份认同问题上的挣扎，文风幽默睿智，却力道十足，辛辣讽刺。选定改写《威尼斯商人》后遭友人嘲笑，觉得他会自砸招牌。但他坚持，并表示一定要独辟蹊径，让剧中的犹太人夏洛克发出不同的声音。