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Best Shakespeare biography?

17 years ago

Has anyone here read a thoroughly well researched biography of the bard? Would you recommend Peter Ackroyd's work or that of the author who created the PBS series ?(cannot recall his name, now). I've already read Greenblatt's "Will in the World", but want to learn more.

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Comments (5)

veer
17 years ago
Mary, I really don't think there can be such a book. There must be hundreds of tomes about Shakespeare yet the hard facts of his life are almost nonexistent. Besides knowing more or less when he was born, married and died (hatched matched and dispatched as we say), that he had three children, at some point left Stratford for London, wrote and acted in plays and retired home . . . the rest has to be speculation and conjecture.
But so as not to be a total kill-joy look out for The Lodger: Shakespeare on Silver Street by Charles Nicholl, a book written around WS, the discovery of a signature and a Court case in the early sixteen hundreds.

Here is a link that might be useful: The Lodger
martin_z
17 years ago
I thoroughly enjoyed Bill Bryson's book about Shakespeare - it's short and to the point, admits most of what we know is conjecture, but it still manages to be engaging. Perhaps lacking in footnotes and scholarly insight, if that's what you're looking for!
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woodnymph2_gw
Original Author
17 years ago
Thanks for the suggestions. Will look for these.
veer
17 years ago
Another book just out in paperback is Soul of the Age: The Life, Mind and World of William Shakespeare by Jonathan Bate. From the reviews it seems to be, yet again, more about the age in which WS lived rather than the chap himself.
Bate wrote The Genius of Shakespeare a few years ago which had reviews.
They should be available at your library.

Here is a link that might be useful: Soul of the Age
jankin
17 years ago
Shakespeare Revealed: A Biography by Rene Weis - a wonderfully written book - very carefully and closely researched full of fascinating insights into life around Shakespeare as well as the personal biographical element.
Rene is a superb and enthusiastic lecturer on Shakespeare and this book is a reflection of his dedication to and love for the Bard,

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