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
Autorentext
Lois Potter recently retired as Ned B. Allen Chair at the University of Delaware. She has also taught at the Universities of Aberdeen, Leicester, and Paris III-Sorbonne Nouvelle, and at Tsuda College, Tokyo. Her publications include Twelfth Night: Text and Performance (1986), the Arden edition of The Two Noble Kinsmen (1997, 2001), and Shakespeare in Performance: Othello (2002). She is also the editor of two volumes in the Revels History of Drama in English series (1981 and 1984), and has been a frequent reviewer of plays for the Times Literary Supplement, Shakespeare Quarterly, and Shakespeare Bulletin.
Klappentext
In this remarkable new biography, distinguished Shakespeare scholar and theater critic Lois Potter explores literary and historical contexts often neglected in other studies, drawing in particular on the idea of the literary personality and on new discoveries about collaboration. She looks at Shakespeare's possible role models, both real and fictional, with particular attention to the people with whom he worked as both author and actor, and considers how these various kinds of collaboration may have affected him. The focus throughout is on Shakespeare's words and on what he learned about writing for his audiences - which, Potter suggests, were more varied than has been thought. The result is a unique and wide-ranging study of the life and work of the great poet and dramatist.
Zusammenfassung
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
Inhalt
List of Illustrations vi
Preface and Acknowledgments vii
List of Abbreviations x
The Shakespeare Family Tree xii
1 Born into the World: 15641571 1
2 Nemo SibiNascitur: 15711578 21
3 Hic et Ubique: 15781588 40
4 This Man's Art and That Man's Scope: 15881592 64
5 Tigers' Hearts: 15921593 86
6 The Dangerous Year: 15931594 106
7 Our Usual Manager of Mirth: 15941595 134
8 The Strong'st and Surest Way to Get: Histories, 15951596 162
9 When Love Speaks: Tragedy and Comedy, 15951596 181
10 You Had a Father; Let Your Son Say So: 15961598 201
11 Unworthy Scaffold: 15981599 231
12 These Words Are Not Mine: 15991601 258
13 Looking Before and After: 16001603 277
14 This Most Balmy Time: 16031605 300
15 Past the Size of Dreaming: 16061609 330
16 Like an Old Tale: 16091611 360
17 The Second Burden: 16121616 384
18 In the Mouths of Men: 1616 and After 414
Bibliography 443
Index 475