Shakespeare: An Ungentle Life (Arden Shakespeare) - Softcover

Duncan-Jones, Katherine

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1408125080 ISBN 13: 9781408125083

Publisher: Arden Shakespeare, 2010

Synopsis

'[A] deeply considered and stimulating book, informed throughout by the author's intimate knowledge of the literature and society of Shakespeare's age. . . ' Stanley Wells, Tls

'It is unquestionably the best Shakespearean biography of the new century' Jonathan Bate, Sunday Telegraph

This major biography of Shakespeare was first published in 2001 to great critical acclaim. It remains highly regarded and much cited by critics and scholars. Its author, Katherine Duncan Jones was an advisor to William Boyd for his film about Shakespeare's life (A Waste of Shame).

The book shows Shakespeare as a man among men and a writer among writers. He lives in a congested city, where he encounters disease, debt and cut-throat competition. His brilliance often makes him the object of envy and malice rather than adulation. He is a shrewd purchaser of property and shows no inclination to divert any of his wealth to charitable or altruistic ends. He appears to be more interested in relationships with well-born young men than with women. Duncan Jones takes us through the complexities of life in late Elizabethan and early Jacobean England in a compelling well-told story.

For this paperback reissue, the author has written a new Preface, detailing some of the recent debates about Shakespeare's biography and identity.

About this title

Review:

'[A] deeply considered and stimulating book, informed throughout by the author's intimate knowledge of the literature and society of Shakespeare's age... These scenes from Shakespeare's life...offer refreshing alternative points of view that no future biographers will be able to ignore' --Stanley Wells, TLS

'It is unquestionably the best Shakespearean biography of the new century' --Jonathan Bate, Sunday Telegraph

'...a model of lucid scholarship which tries neither to beatify nor vilify its subject, but to present [Shakespeare] as a living figure in the heat and the dust of the passing world' --The Times

About the Author:

Katherine Duncan-Jones is a Professor of Early Modern English at Somerville College, Oxford. Priomarily interested in Elizabethan literature, history and biography, especially with reference to original texts and sources in manuscript and early editions she is currently researching Shakespeare's reputation from 1592-1623. Publications include Shakespeare's Sonnets (ed., Arden Shakespeare, 1997) and the critically acclaimed biography Shakespeare: An Ungentle Life (Arden Shakespeare, 2010).

About this edition

• Publisher: Arden Shakespeare
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 1408125080
• ISBN 13: 9781408125083
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 396