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Shakespeare: The Biography
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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 822.33
EAN: 9780385511391
ISBN: 0385511396
Label: Nan A. Talese
Manufacturer: Nan A. Talese
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 592
Publication Date: October 25, 2005
Publisher: Nan A. Talese
Release Date: October 25, 2005
Studio: Nan A. Talese
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Editorial Review:
In a magnificent feat of re-creating sixteenth-century London and Stratford, bestselling biographer and novelist Peter Ackroyd brings William Shakespeare to life in the manner of a contemporary rather than a biographer. Following his magisterial and ingenious re-creations of the lives of Chaucer, Dickens, T. S. Eliot, William Blake, and Sir Thomas More, Ackroyd delivers his crowning achievement with this definitive and imaginative biographical masterpiece.Thousands of books have been written about the playwright, but none has borne Ackroyd’s unique and accessible stamp. His method is to position the playwright in the context of his world, exploring everything from Stratford’s humble town to its fields of wildflowers; discerning influences on the plays from unexpected quarters; and entering London with the playwright as modern theatre, as we know it, is just beginning to emerge.Writing as though we are observing Shakespeare and his circle of friends, patrons, managers, and fellow actors and writers, Ackroyd is able to see Shakespeare's genius from within, so we feel that Ackroyd the writer merges with Shakespeare the writer, the poet, the man; and thus with great sympathy and clarity we experience the way in which Shakespeare worked.Shakespeare: The Biography is quite unlike other more analytic biographies that have been written. Rather, Peter Ackroyd has used his skill, his extraordinary knowledge, and his historical intuition to craft this major full-scale book on one of the most towering figures of the English language.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Shakespeare: The Invisible Man
I'm surprised by the number of five-star reviews: I feel I'm being rather generous with four. This "biography" is a collection of very short chapters dealing with aspects of Elizabethan life nominally connected with specific periods or events of Shakespeare's life--aspects political, economic, cultural, religious, moral, aesthetic, economic, literary, theatrical, architectural, sartorial, legal, familial, pedagogical, erotic, hygienic, pathological, psychological, sociological, and linguistic (among ... Read More
Rating: - Shakespeare: His Life and Times (But Mostly His Times)
Peter Ackroyd is the greatest living biographer. Simple as that. Unfortunately, this is probably his least satisfying biography. This is not to say that the book is not an enjoyable read, for it most assuredly is. But it is not up to Ackroyd's usually outstanding snuff.
Part of the reason for this is that there is so little evidence of Shakespeare's life available to the researcher beyond the plays themselves. We just don't know that much. Mr. Ackroyd also presents the book in numerous ... Read More
Rating:  - Best Shakespeare bio ever!
Of course, any biography of Shakespeare is mostly a biography of Renaissance England, since so little is known of his actual life, but Ackroyd pulls together every scrap of fact and weaves it all together in a way that makes the era and the man full of life and energy. He uses a lot of "evidence" from the plays, but that's okay. Did Shakespeare follow the dictum "write what you know?" I loved this biography; I feel like I know Shakespeare the man as well as I possibly can! (I listened to it on CD; very ... Read More
Rating: - Superb
The following is a review of the Audiobook version of Peter Ackroyd's "Shakespeare: The Biography" read by Simon Vance.
The hallmark of a good biography is the author's ability to breathe life into both his subject and the time and place his subject lived. It isn't enough to tell the story of a man if you fail to put that man in his proper context Peter Ackroyd has a gift for bringing both his subject (for example, see The Life of Thomas More) and a time and place (for example, see London: The ... Read More
Rating: - shakespeare in historical and literary context
A very readable book that perhaps repeats what thewriter believed to be shakespeare's many facets and qualities. Chapters are very short and invite the reader to carry on reading. It is an easy read book, filled with lots of fascinating information and one that i would recommend to someone wanting not just to find out a lot about Shakespeare but someone who wanted him set into his slot in history.
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