Foreword Stephen Fry; 1. What Manner of Man Was He?; 2. How Did Shakespeare Write a Play?; 3. What Do the Sonnets Tell Us about Their Author?; 4. What Made Shakespeare Laugh?; Epilogue: Eight Decades with Shakespeare.
How did Shakespeare think and feel? This is an authoritative, provocative reflection on the personality behind the plays and poems.
Professor Sir Stanley Wells, CBE, FRSL, is Honorary President at The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. His many successful books include Shakespeare: For All Time (2002), Looking for Sex in Shakespeare (2004), Shakespeare & Co. (2006), Shakespeare, Sex, and Love (2010) and Great Shakespeare Actors (2015). He is co-editor of The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare on Stage (with Sarah Stanton, Cambridge University Press, 2002), The New Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare (with Margreta de Grazia, Cambridge University Press, 2010), The Shakespeare Circle: An Alternative Biography (with Paul Edmondson, Cambridge University Press, 2015) and All the Sonnets of Shakespeare (also with Paul Edmondson, Cambridge University Press, 2020). He is also the General Editor of the Oxford and Penguin editions of Shakespeare.
'It is, I think, incontestable to claim that no single person in
history has done more for the study and appreciation of Shakespeare
than Stanley Wells. This book asks four beguilingly simple
questions which result in deeply fascinating and exciting journeys
into Shakespeare's mind and practice. As you read, you are very
likely to exclaim, as I did, 'Why the hell didn't my English
teacher talk like this? Actors, directors, producers, lecturers,
teachers, students, and all who want to know and understand more
will hug this book to them.' Stephen Fry
'If this book wasn't short I wouldn't trust it. There is very
little to go on in trying to find Shakespeare the man, and Stanley
Wells doesn't pad anything out with wishful speculation. Having
studied his works for longer than any man alive he is almost
uniquely placed to do this detective work. In his tenth decade
Wells has lost none of his curiosity or his eagerness to share his
intimate knowledge.' Harriet Walter
'Stanley Wells illuminates and entertains – brilliant!' Kenneth
Branagh
'A truly excellent book – I enjoyed every page. I am sure it will
be read with appreciation by all who care for Shakespeare, or are
curious about the inner turmoil of his life.' Claire Tomalin
'This illuminating compilation … helps separate the man from the
myth.' Publishers Weekly
'Wells is our pre-eminent Shakespearean, and here he reflects
magisterially on the topic that has absorbed his life for seven
decades … [His] book offers a readable, pacy and personal
introduction to Shakespeare's works, and to Wells's own important
role, part-Prospero, part-Puck, in their popularisation. And if
you're still wondering: what Shakespeare was really like remains,
happily, a mystery.' The Telegraph
'Wells roots his picture of the playwright and poet in evidence and
logic, and he's too erudite to be anything but modest in his
conjectures - which is much the appeal of this book.' Jonathan
Mandell, New York Theater
'Stanley Wells, the nonagenarian dean of Shakespeare scholars,
condenses decades of living with Shakespeare into What Was
Shakespeare Really Like? … Commonsensical, easy-going, Mr. Wells
wants to encounter Shakespeare as a personality.' The Wall Street
Journal
'Just as any production of a Shakespeare play reveals as much about
its interpreters as its playwright, so Wells paints a portrait of
himself alongside his subject. That the reader will still likely be
glad of it is testament to the author's unwavering enthusiasm and
insight.' Rory Kinnear, The Guardian
'…secret, passionate urgings and scoldings were the seeds of
[Shakespeare's] creativity. Professor Wells deserves a round of
applause for bringing them into the light.' John Walsh, The Mail on
Sunday
'Inherently interesting, insightful, absorbing, eloquent,
thoughtful and thought-provoking, [this] is an unreservedly
recommended pick for personal, professional, community, and
college/university library biography collections and supplemental
William Shakespeare curriculum studies lists.' Katherine
Persechino, Library Bookwatch
'Inherently interesting, insightful, absorbing, eloquent,
thoughtful and thought-provoking, [this book] is an unreservedly
recommended pick for personal, professional, community, and
college/university library biography collections and supplemental
William Shakespeare curriculum studies lists.' James A. Cox,
Midwest Book Review
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