This engaging and fresh biography begins by examining how Shakespeare's life turns into myth so comfortably as to seduce even the most sceptical scholar. The early departure, the late return. Public success, private loss. A twilight of plays about family reunions, a death at home in the biggest house in town, the one he walked by as a schoolboy and eyed with envy, or at least ambition. Shakespeare led an orbital life, everything returned to where it began. He even had the dramatic good sense to die on his birthday.
One of the appealing dynamics of the Shakespeare myth is the contrast of his humble beginnings and his lofty achievements, persuading us that genius might blossom anywhere. William Shakespeare: A Brief Life honours these myths, but also explores some of the mysteries: why Shakespeare left Stratford, who he ran with in London, why he put down his pen and at last came home again. Ultimately, the book explores the compelling contrast between the mere fifty two years Shakespeare lived, with the prolonged after lives of his work and his story, which show no sign of ending.
Paul Menzer is the Provost at Mary Baldwin University, USA, where he is a Professor of Shakespeare and Performance. He is the editor of
Inside Shakespeare: Essays on the Blackfriars Stage (2006) and author of
The Hamlets: Cues, Q's, and Remembered Texts (2008),
Anecdotal Shakespeare: a New Performance History (2015),
Shakespeare in the Theatre: The American Shakespeare Center (2017), as well as editions of
Romeo and Juliet (2017) and
Doctor Faustus (2018).
Peter Holland holds the McMeel Family Chair in Shakespeare Studies in the Department of Film, Television and Theatre and is Associate Dean for the Arts at the University of Notre Dame. He was formerly Director of the Shakespeare Institute, Stratford-upon-Avon and is editor of Shakespeare Survey and co-general editor of the Oxford Shakespeare Topics series.
Peter Holland is McMeel Family Chair in Shakespeare Studies at the University of Notre Dame, USA.
Peter Holland is the McMeel Family Chair in Shakespeare Studies and the Associate Dean for the Arts at the University of Notre Dame, USA.
Zachary Lesser is Professor of English at the University of Pennsylvania, USA .
Tiffany Stern is Professor of Shakespeare and Early Modern Drama at the Shakespeare Institute, University of Birmingham, UK.