Customer Reviews

Shakespeare: The Biography

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This life of Shakespeare is distinguished by its providing a detailed, and vivid picture of Shakespeare's world- and too by its reading from the plays back into Shakespeare's life. Thus Ackroyd noting how central the father- daughter relationship is in many of the plays comments on how little there is in Shakespeare concerning the mother- daughter relationship. This is of course hints at Shakespeare's concerned relationship with his principal heir , his older daughter Susanna and his more problematic relationship with his younger daughter ,Anna and her philandering husband. Ackroyd too presents to my mind an extremely intelligent and open approach to many questions about Shakespeare, including his sexual - identity. Here again Ackroyd's understanding of Shakespeare as actor gives him insight , even if only hypothetical insight into the life and character of Shakespeare.

As the work however focuses on the life of Shakespeare it's reading of the plays is not central. Rather it uses the plays where it can to understand something significant about Shakespeare's life.

Ackroyd makes much of Shakespeare's not having been a born Londoner, but rather a person of the country. He makes much of Shakespeare's connection with the world of his time.

As Ackroyd himself indicates since the late nineteenth century biographies about Shakespeare have become something like an industry. But this present one is ,my guess is, one of the more distinguished ones.