Description: A paperback reissue of a critically acclaimed biography which shows Shakespeare as a man among men and a writer among writers. Duncan Jones takes us through the complexities of life in late Elizabethan and early Jacobean England in a compelling and well-told story.
Brief description: Katherine Duncan-Jones was Professor of Early Modern English at Somerville College, University of Oxford, UK. Publications include Shakespeare's Sonnets (The Arden Shakespeare, 1997) and the critically acclaimed biography Shakespeare: An Ungentle Life (The Arden Shakespeare, 2010).
Review Quotes:
"'[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 "Katherine Duncan-Jones's constantly illuminating and hugely enjoyable biography restores the author and his plays to bubbly life...Duncan-Jones triumphantly constructs an upsetting trajectory from playful youth to rancorous skinflint, through which art matures even as character hardens" --The Observer "Engrossing...Her account of Shakespeare's hypothetical entry into the theatrical profession is a tour de force of biographical reconstruction...Katherine Duncan-Jones shines light into dark corners and brings skeletons out of the closet. Her courageous biography is partisan, idiosyncratic, and unforgettable. Anyone seriously interested in Shakespeare should read it." --Shakespeare Quarterly "A brilliant book...Fresh and original." --Literary Review