The Shakespeare Circle: An Alternative Biography by Paul Edmondson (PDF)

Description

This original and enlightening book casts fresh light on Shakespeare by examining the lives of his relatives, friends, fellow-actors, collaborators and patrons both in their own right and in relation to his life. Well-known figures such as Richard Burbage, Ben Jonson and Thomas Middleton are freshly considered; little-known but relevant lives are brought to the fore, and revisionist views are expressed on such matters as Shakespeare’s wealth, his family and personal relationships, and his social status. Written by a distinguished team, including some of the foremost biographers, writers and Shakespeare scholars of today, this enthralling volume forms an original contribution to Shakespearian biography and Elizabethan and Jacobean social history. It will interest anyone looking to learn something new about the dramatist and the times in which he lived. A supplementary website offers imagined first-person audio accounts from the featured subjects.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐What a useful and intelligent volume, and what an excellent corrective to the Shakespeare mystifications that seem to thrive even more on the west edge of the Atlantic than on the east edge.Perhaps I missed something, but I don’t think Cambridge did a very good job of letting Americans know it exists. Perhaps the book news was subsumed in the general anniversary coverage, and I missed it.In any case, what seems most startling to me about The Shakespeare Circle is that no one has done it before. Schoenbaum comes closest, but I may be ignorant of important past work. Certainly the leadership at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust has made new documentary and archaeological information available since Schoenbaum, and this volume makes use of it, conveying a real picture of the businesslike, pragmatic, socially various life of our Mr. W.S., and his community’s and peers’ Mr. W.S., lived in real circumstances. The volume is free from the nonsensical vapors with which American journalists (and professors and theater folk) too often cloud the Shakespeare story in the U.S.—vapors that are either “divine universal genius” at one end, or “he didn’t exist and was really either Francis Bacon or Neil Simon” at the other.

⭐This is a pretty dry book. It’s loaded with quasi-interesting tidbits from very obscure parts of Shakespeare’s life, which is the point, I suppose. But most of the profiles in this book are very pieced together, though academically and historically. It’s choppy – each chapter addressing a different person in Shakespeare’s life, each chapter written by a different historian. It’s informational and does offer a chance for a different perspective, which could provide a better understanding on the Bard himself (since we have very limited info on him anyway), so that’s useful. But like I said – it’s pretty dry. Similar historical books on Bill (in my experience) at least had a consistent theme/feel and had a bit of a “story” to them. This one was like watching paint dry. Not much of a “fun” read, but more of a research resource or guide. Useful and informative, but pretty boring…

⭐This is a thoughtful collection of biographical essays that approaches the life of Shakespeare by examining those whom he know personally and professionally. The majority of these essays are thoroughly researched and present more complex views of Shakespeare than biographies typically assemble. While some of the essays are overly speculative, they tend to acknowledge a dearth of information on the specific topic, and it helps to have these gaps in the history and biography highlighted as a reminder that there is much we still do not, and maybe cannot know.I heartily recommend this book for anyone looking for a more in depth understanding of Shakespeare’s writing in the context in which he wrote. Even those well versed in the history of Shakespeare and early modern London are likely to find someone new.

⭐Valuable addition to filling out the landscape of Shakespeare’s life. We can indeed tell a man by the company he keeps.

⭐As expected.

⭐This item was a gift, very appreciated

⭐Excellent.

⭐This is a fascinating book and I recommend it to anyone who is even remotely interested in Shakespeare. It is an anthology of biographical essays, written and organized by some among the most important contemporary Shakespeare scholars – such as Paul Edmondson, Stanley Wells, Germaine Greer, to name just a few. The approach is not completely new, there are other books that deal with Shakespeare’s neighbors and friends, but what I really like here is the web that is created and that includes family, friends, colleagues, neighbors, financial partners, writing collaborators and so on. The final picture is very complete and Shakespeare comes to life as a very astute businessman, a discerning writing partner, a faithful friend, among other things. For me, the most interesting chapters were the ones about Wilkins, Middleton and Fletcher, who co-wrote some plays with him. Shakespeare wasn’t always the solitary genius that we might think, he chose promising writers to work with and this is a field that is still being explored. New discoveries are happening all the time thanks to computer technology. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and strongly recommend it.

⭐Did not dislike anything. Used for extending knowledge of Shakespeare.

⭐I bought this book as a Christmas present for my daughterr-in-law who has just mastered on Shakespeare and so I did not read it. She, however, had read the first two chapters when I saw her at the family Christmas lunch and she said how interesting and informative the book was.

⭐There is much interesting material here – of course there is. Some distinguished researchers have illuminated the life stories of the residents of a small English town towards the close of the sixteenth century and this is a valuable contribution to social history. There are also thoughtful expressions of views on the possible links between different writers of the period and their writings, as assessed by a variety of methods, and this repays study too. However, many readers may come away with the feeling that the main impact of this book is to illuminate the Shakespeare-shaped hole at the heart of this biographical enterprise. His friends and relations fail to fill it, as they were so stubbornly reluctant to talk much about the man, and, annoyingly, he tidied away his literary traces so thoroughly. Indeed one article, trailed ahead of time in the press, purports to show that the Shakespeare family fortunes had no need of any input from writing: father John’s business could in the end take care of everything. At times, the pickings are so lean, that we have to have a whole chapter devoted to poor little Hamnet, about whom nothing is known save that he was born a twin and died in childhood. Alas: nothing will come of nothing. Some surprising opportunities to tell a story are missed, however. For instance, we are told that Shakespeare’s daughter Susanna “almost certainly” hosted Queen Henrietta Maria in 1643. We are also told that she sent the Queen a book denouncing Catherine de Medici and that the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust has the book. There must be a story behind that, but we are not told it. We are told that the Queen was the granddaughter of the notorious Catherine. Ah those confusing Medicis! To have Marie as your mother is not at all the same thing as having Catherine for your Granny.The more literary parts of the book dwell on recent work on co-authorship, presenting a picture of contemporaneous cooperation, and of Shakespeare responding to, and lifting from, other people’s work. This flies in face, however, of what Thomas Freeman wrote in 1614, at the end of a poem “to Master W Shakespeare”:”Besides in plays thy wit winds like MeanderWhence needy new-composers borrow moreThan Terence doth from Plautus and Menander.But to praise thee aright I want thy store.Then let thine own works thine own worth upraiseAnd help t’adorn thee with deserved baies.”Who knew best, I wonder?

⭐wonderful book!

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