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Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "LET US IMAGINE that Shakespeare found himself from boyhood fascinated by language, obsessed with the magic of words..." (more)
Key Phrases: wretched strangers, deer poaching, playing companies, John Shakespeare, King Lear, Midsummer Night's Dream (more...)
4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (89 customer reviews)
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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

There's no shortage of good Shakespearean biographies. But Stephen Greenblatt, brilliant scholar and author of Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare, reminds us that the "surviving traces" are "abundant but thin" as to known facts. He acknowledges the paradox of the many biographies spun out of conjecture but then produces a book so persuasive and breathtakingly enjoyable that one wonders what he could have done if the usual stuff of biographical inquiry--memoirs, interviews, manuscripts, and drafts--had been at his disposal. Greenblatt uses the "verbal traces" in Shakespeare's work to take us "back into the life he lived and into the world to which he was so open." Whenever possible, he also ushers us from the extraordinary life into the luminous work. The result is a marvelous blend of scholarship, insight, observation, and, yes, conjecture--but conjecture always based on the most convincing and inspired reasoning and evidence. Particularly compelling are Greenblatt's discussions of the playwright's relationship with the university wit Robert Greene (discussed as a chief source for the character of Falstaff) and of Hamlet in relation to the death of Shakespeare's son Hamnet, his aging father, and the "world of damaged rituals" that England's Catholics were forced to endure.

Will in the World is not just the life story of the world's most revered writer. It is the story, too, of 16th- and 17th-century England writ large, the story of religious upheaval and political intrigue, of country festivals and brutal public executions, of the court and the theater, of Stratford and London, of martyrdom and recusancy, of witchcraft and magic, of love and death: in short, of the private but engaged William Shakespeare in his remarkable world. Throughout the book, Greenblatt's style is breezy and familiar. He often refers to the poet simply as Will. Yet for all his alacrity of style and the book's accessibility, Will in the World is profoundly erudite, an enormous contribution to the world of Shakespearean letters. --Silvana Tropea

Interview with Stephen Greenblatt
Stephen Greenblatt shares his thoughts about what make Shakespeare Shakespeare and why the Bard continues to fascinate us endlessly.



From Publishers Weekly

This much-awaited new biography of the elusive Bard is brilliant in conception, often superb in execution, but sometimes—perhaps inevitably—disappointing in its degree of speculativeness. Bardolators may take this last for granted, but curious lay readers seeking a fully cohesive and convincing life may at times feel the accumulation of "may haves," "might haves" and "could haves" make it difficult to suspend disbelief. Greenblatt's espousing, for instance, of the theory that Shakespeare's "lost" years before arriving in London were spent in Lancashire leads to suppositions that he might have met the Catholic subversive Edmund Campion, and how that might have affected him—and it all rests on one factoid: the bequeathing by a nobleman of some player's items to a William Shakeshafte, who may, plausibly, have been the young Shakespeare. Nevertheless, Norton Shakespeare general editor and New Historicist Greenblatt succeed impressively in locating the man in both his greatest works and the turbulent world in which he lived. With a blend of biography, literary interpretation and history, Greenblatt persuasively analyzes William's father's rise and fall as a public figure in Stratford, which pulled him in both Protestant and Catholic directions and made his eldest son "a master of double consciousness." In a virtuoso display of historical and literary criticism, Greenblatt contrasts Christopher Marlowe's Jew of Malta, Elizabeth's unfortunate Sephardic physician—who was executed for conspiracy—and Shakespeare's ambiguous villain Shylock. This wonderful study, built on a lifetime's scholarship and a profound ability to perceive the life within the texts, creates as vivid and full portrait of Shakespeare as we are likely ever to have. 16 pages color illus. not seen by PW.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Product Details

  • Hardcover: 386 pages
  • Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company (September 30, 2004)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0393050572
  • ISBN-13: 978-0393050578
  • Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.4 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (89 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #77,990 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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    #88 in  Books > Literature & Fiction > British > Shakespeare
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Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
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First Sentence:
LET US IMAGINE that Shakespeare found himself from boyhood fascinated by language, obsessed with the magic of words. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
wretched strangers, deer poaching, playing companies, spiritual testament, playing company, university wits, upstart crow, likeliest candidate
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
John Shakespeare, King Lear, Midsummer Night's Dream, The Winter's Tale, Queen Elizabeth, Julius Caesar, Anne Hathaway, Lord Chamberlain's Men, Queen's Men, Twelfth Night, New Place, William Shakespeare, Privy Council, Ben Jonson, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Catholic Church, Robert Greene, Sir Thomas Lucy, The Comedy of Errors, Earl of Leicester, Henley Street, Hock Tuesday, King's New School, London Bridge, The Jew of Malta
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45 of 47 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Speculation on a life still fascinating read, October 16, 2004
Stephen Greenblatt's Will in the World is a marvelous "biography" of sorts. Greenblatt's world relies as much on what is known about Shakespeare and the world that he lived in. Is it possible that a man without a university education and without serious political connections and wealth could have written the plays and sonnets of Shakespeare? Yes and to assume otherwise would be the same as assuming that Paris Hilton could become the greatest actress of our generation by virtue of the fact that she's wealthy and hangs out a crowd that includes talented artists. Just because you've got social advantages (or disadvantages)doesn't necessarily mean you'll change the world. Greenblatt indirectly creates a compelling argument for Shakespeare as the author of the plays under his name.Great art can appear out of anyone with the talent, desire and opportunity to present it. Greenblatt's biography shows through his cross connections and supposition just how Shakespeare might have evolved into the great playwrite that we, the audience, know and love. By looking at the world that shaped Shakespeare, Greenblatt proposes a world that shaped Shakespeare's writing and helped shape the theatrical world around him as well.

Although Greenblatt bases a lot of his observations and conclusions on deduction and supposition, he makes a lot of intelligent and accurate observations about the world that shaped William Shakespeare. He also, in turn, speculates (sometimes hitting his target and sometimes not)how Shakespeare used the world that formed him to, in turn, form his great works. Are all the conclusions perfect and ironclad? Greenblatt also points to popular works in latin that Will loved so much that he incorporated some basic plot elements into his plays as well (not unlike the Greek playwrites of their era).

Biographers, like historians, draw conclusions from evidence but those conclusions are informed by the bias of their time. That's also true of Greenblatt's work. Still, he makes some remarkable observations and his insights into Will's world will leave you thinking about the plays and sonnets in a whole new way. That's the value of a cultural and historical biography like this. While all the details of Shakespeare's life may be sketchy luckily for us his great plays (even though they've been through many hands and editors over the years) are not. They continue to resonate with great observations about human nature. Greenblatt's book will reshape some of your thinking about the man behind "The Tempest" and "Hamlet" and other times you'll find you completely disagree with him. That's the art of a great biography to create an atmosphere where discussion fuels the fire of interpretation.
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28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A Work of Impressive Scholarship & Readability, November 11, 2004
By Timothy Haugh (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)      
I very much enjoyed Stephen Greenblatt's previous work on Shakespeare, Hamlet in Purgatory; therefore, I was very excited to see Mr. Greenblatt had decided to write a complete biography of Shakespeare. Fortunately, Mr. Greenblatt did not disappoint. Will in the World is one of the best Shakespeare biographies I have read.

The problem for any biographer of Shakespeare is, of course, the minimal records left behind. Apart from some information left in church and financial records, there is almost nothing of certainty known about Shakespeare. A Shakespearean biographer, then, is forced to make a certain number of guesses and speculations if he is going to come up with any kind of complete story for a reader. Historically, these speculations have ranged from the mundane to the outrageous but they always must rely on the reader's trust of the author's scholarship and how it relates to our own understanding of Shakespeare. I find Mr. Greenblatt to be a very believable biographer.

The main reason I find Mr. Greenblatt's work to be so compelling is the correlations he finds between well-recorded historical events, what is known of Shakespeare and, ultimately, how this finds its way into Shakespeare's work. For example, in the first chapter Greenblatt describes a visit Queen Elizabeth made to Kenilworth where Leicester puts on a grand display for her. Now, was Shakespeare present at these festivities, perhaps even as a young country player? There is no way to know for sure but Greenblatt quotes Robert Langham's letter describing the event and takes us to lines from Midsummer Nights Dream. Shakespeare's recreation of the event is striking. Perhaps he was there.

The other reason I like Greenblatt's work on Shakespeare is that he makes him human. Unlike Harold Bloom, for example (whose work I also greatly admire), who has a distracting tendency to deify Shakespeare, Mr. Greenblatt keeps Shakespeare deeply rooted in the real world. No less a genius for that, Greenblatt's Shakespeare is a man whose work was influenced by his life and experiences and not pulled wholesale from the Muse.

Again and again Greenblatt impresses with his extensive knowledge of history and Shakespeare's work. In doing so, he takes us through Shakespeare's life and time from beginning to end. In the end, he leaves us with a picture of a man and his times--if not a sharp as a photograph then at least as beautiful as an impressionist painting.
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40 of 44 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Wow,this is as good as it gets about the Bard., November 28, 2004
By Dr. L. Johnson "Aging Shakespeare buff" (san marino., ca United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
I still remember visiting Statford,in 1965,when one could look across the avon and see verdant meadows, long since lost to ugly hotels, when one could go right up to the tomb,now blocked off. I fell inlove with the bard in college and have read a few books about him but none like this.Extremely well researched, by an eminent scholar,it is also written in a very casual,non stilted friendly way,so you can see the author really has loved his life of studying Will.
Unlike a novel, one can pick up anywhere and get as reasonable a glimpse of Will,s world, friends,politics and his inner thinking,as is humanely possible.The author has devoted his life to studying the little known and the much speculated about the bard and given us a little masterpiece that will delight those who know very little or a lot about the man.
I,m really crabby as a critic so this means its a super book, you really feel you,re there in Elizabethen England, with Shakepeare and his friends. You will surely enjoy the history, local color of London and Shakespeare,s exciting times as he grows and masters his trade.Enough, you,ll love it.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars Strange speculations
I'm going to depart from the crowd on this one: I didn't think the book was very good. To be sure, the author has done a good job of absorbing the research done by others about... Read more
Published 24 days ago by Avid Reader

3.0 out of 5 stars a book of conjectures
it's a book full of would haves and could haves; like, if hamlet was written in 1601 or after, then its tension must have sth to do with southampton's possible execution, then... Read more
Published 1 month ago by dingguangding

5.0 out of 5 stars What it is . . . and isn't
This is a very interesting book on Shakespeare, but it is not really a biography of Shakespeare. As most know, the existing facts of Shakespeare's life are few and far between... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Richard B. Schwartz

3.0 out of 5 stars Too Speculative
Any attempt to put together the pieces of someone's life, who we actually have very little biographical stuff about is very difficult. Read more
Published 7 months ago by DarrenGJohnson

4.0 out of 5 stars Lengthy, but informative.
I had a somewhat difficult time getting involved in the book in the beginning. However, my love of W. Shakespeare kept me going with many rewards. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Joyma

2.0 out of 5 stars The more the merrier?
I think a lot of Shakespeare fans are grateful when a new bio comes out. It seems to revive the strength of the usual authorship assumption. Read more
Published 17 months ago by Alan Venable

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting book
This is one of the most interesting books that I read last year.

While it is highly speculative it can be entertaining and even in portions insightful. Read more
Published 17 months ago by General Pete

5.0 out of 5 stars I loved it!
Not much is known about the life of William Shakespeare. Even though by the seventeenth century England was a record keeping nation, gaps remain in even the most basic... Read more
Published on July 24, 2007 by Sahra Badou

4.0 out of 5 stars the controversy and curiosity never end
William Shakespeare (1564-1616) was the greatest playwright ever to grace the stage and page in the English language; he also remains the most elusive of biographical figures... Read more
Published on January 17, 2007 by Daniel B. Clendenin

5.0 out of 5 stars This really tells it like it was
I have been a Shakespeare scholar since college, and I am 68 Years old. This was the best book about the Bard that I have ever read. Read more
Published on January 9, 2007 by S. Weitz

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