Shakespeare the Man: New Decipherings

Description

"While over the past four hundred years numerous opinions have been voiced as to Shakespeare's identity, these eleven essays widen the scope of the investigation by regarding Shakespeare, his world, and his works in their interaction with one another. Instead of restricting the search for bits and pieces of evidence from his works that seem to match what he may have experienced, these essays focus on the contemporary milieu-political developments, social and theater history, and cultural and religious pressures-as well as the domestic conditions within Shakespeare's family that shaped his personality and are featured in his works. The authors of these essays, employing the tenets of critical theory and practice as well as intuitive and informed insight, endeavor to look behind the masks, thus challenging the reader to adjudicate among the possible, the probable, the likely, and the unlikely. With the exception of the editor's own piece on Hamlet, Shakespeare the Man: New Decipherings presents previously unpublished essays, inviting the reader to embark upon an intellectual adventure into the fascinating terrain of Shakespeare's mind and art." ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroductionR. W. DesaiShakespeare's PlaywrightsGrace TiffanyThe History of the Shakespeares and the Shakespeares in the HistoriesJoseph Candido1592-1594: Shakespeare's "Other" Lost YearsR. S. WhiteGreene, Harvey, Nashe, and the "Making" of FalstaffMythili Kaul"Look in the calendar": Julius Caesar and Shakespeare's Cultural-Political MomentSubhajit Sen Gupta"But I have that within which passeth show": Shakespeare's Ambivalence toward His ProfessionR. W. Desai"Those lips that love's own hand did make": Anne Hathaway and Shakespeare's Venus and AdonisShormishtha PanjaShakespeare's ChurchesLisa HopkinsShakespeare and the Rhythms of DevotionStuart SillarsOutbraving Luther: Shakespeare's Final Evolution through the Tragedies into the Last PlaysJohn O'MearaShakespeare among the JesuitsJohn MahonWas Shakespeare a "Church Papist" or a Prayer Book Anglican?Charles R. ForkerIndexContributor Biographies