The Life of William Shakespeare
A Critical Biography
Blackwell Critical Biographies
2. Edition April 2012
512 Pages, Hardcover
Professional Book
Short Description
The Life of William Shakespeare is a fascinating and wide-ranging exploration of Shakespeare's life and works, focusing on often neglected literary and historical contexts: what he read, who he worked with as an author and an actor, and how these various collaborations may have affected his writing. Written by an eminent Shakespearean scholar and experienced theatre reviewer, it pays particular attention to Shakespeare's theatrical contemporaries and the ways in which they influenced his writing, offering an intriguing account of the life and work of the great poet-dramatist, structured around the idea of memory.
The Life of William Shakespeare is a fascinating and wide-ranging exploration of Shakespeare's life and works focusing on oftern neglected literary and historical contexts: what Shakespeare read, who he worked with as an author and an actor, and how these various collaborations may have affected his writing.
* Written by an eminent Shakespearean scholar and experienced theatre reviewer
* Pays particular attention to Shakespeare's theatrical contemporaries and the ways in which they influenced his writing
* Offers an intriguing account of the life and work of the great poet-dramatist structured around the idea of memory
* Explores often neglected literary and historical contexts that illuminate Shakespeare's life and works
Preface and Acknowledgements
List of Abbreviations
The Shakespeare Family Tree
1. "Born into the World": 1564--1571
2. "Nemo Sibi Nascitur": 1571--1578
3. "Hic et Ubique": 1578--1588
4. "This Man's Art and That Man's Scope": 1588--1592
5. "Tiger's Hearts": 1592--1593
6. "The Dangerous Year": 1593--1594
7. "Our Usual Manager of Mirth": 1594--1595
8. "The Strong'st and Surest Way to Get": 1595--1596
9. "When Love Speaks": 1595--1596
10. "You Had a Father, Let Your Son Say So": 1596--1598
11. "Unworthy Scaffold": 1598--1599
12. "These Words Are Not Mine": 1599--1601
13. "Looking Before and After": 1600--1603
14. "This Most Balmy Time": 1603--1605
15. "Past the Size of Dreaming": 1606--1609
16. "Like an Old Tale": 1609--1611
17. "The Second Burden": 1612--1616
18. "In the Mouths of Men": 1616 and After
Bibliography
Index
"This study will have wide appeal to readers who wish to expand their appreciation of the works of William Shakespeare. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty; general readers." (Choice, 1 November 2012)
"These form the narrative spine of this richly suggestive, undogmatic book in which Lois Potter ranges across the entire canon and the period that helped produce it." (Around the Globe, 1 October 2012)
"Lois Potter's Life of William Shakespeare, ranks with the most distinguished examples of its kind ... Her achievement lies in her catholicity, her simultaneous commitment to matters personal, historical, theatrical, literary, cultural. She exhibits an absolute command of the available facts, a lifetime's acquaintance with the works gained in teaching and playgoing, an unparalleled familiarity with theatrical history from 1567 to the present, and a talent for connecting the fictional and the actual." (Times Literary Supplement, 10 August 2012)