Name: The Truth About William Shakespeare: Fact, Fiction and Modern Biographies
Author: David Ellis (Author)
ISBN: 9780748646661

The Truth About William Shakespeare: Fact, Fiction and Modern Biographies book cover

The Truth About William Shakespeare: Fact, Fiction and Modern Biographies

Author(s): David Ellis (Author)

Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
Publication Date: 7 Mar. 2012
Language: English
Print length: 208 pages
ISBN-10: 0748646663
ISBN-13: 9780748646661

Book Description

A polemical attack on the ways recent Shakespeare biographers have disguised their lack of information. How can biographies of Shakespeare continue to appear when so little is known about him? And when what is known has been in the public domain for so long? Why have the majority of the biographies published in the last decade been written by distinguished Shakespeareans who ought to know better? To solve this puzzle, David Ellis looks at the methods that Shakespeare’s biographers have used to hide their lack of knowledge. At the same time, by exploring efforts to write a life of Shakespeare along traditional lines, it asks what kind of animal ‘biography’ really is and how it should be written. Key Features * An expose of the Shakespeare biography industry showing that books which are marketed as biographies of Shakespeare are nothing of the kind. * From this book, the reader can learn all that is directly known about Shakespeare * Asks the reader to think about how we acquire our knowledge of other people and what we ought therefore to expect of biographies

Editorial Reviews

Review

In exposing the fabrications that biographers have resorted to in the face of the lack of knowledge of any kind to be had about Shakespeare’s personality and private life, this book is sharply incisive, humorously as well as forensically so. It is also thoroughly informative about Shakespeare’s life, insofar as it is known. –George Donaldson, University of Bristol

Very readable and often witty: David Ellis makes a convincing and entertaining case that recent biographies of William Shakespeare, though claiming to add to our knowledge of the poet’s life, cannot really do so because the body of directly relevant evidence has remained more or less constant for the last hundred years. –Robert Bearman, former Head of Archives, Shakespeare Birthplace Trust

From the Inside Flap

AUTHOR-APPROVED’Very readable and often witty: David Ellis makes a convincing and entertaining case that recent biographies of William Shakespeare, though claiming to add to our knowledge of the poet’s life, cannot really do so because the body of directly relevant evidence has remained more or less constant for the last hundred years.’Robert Bearman, former Head of Archives, Shakespeare Birthplace Trust’In exposing the fabrications that biographers have resorted to in the face of the lack of knowledge of any kind to be had about Shakespeare’s personality and private life, this book is sharply incisive, humorously as well as forensically so. It is also thoroughly informative about Shakespeare’s life, insofar as it is known.’George Donaldson, University of BristolThe Truth about William ShakespeareFact, Fiction and Modern BiographyDavid Ellis’Very readable and often witty, David Ellis draws attention to the fact that all recent biographies of William Shakespeare, though claiming to add to our knowledge of the poet’s life, cannot really do so because the body of directly relevant evidence has remained more or less constant for the last hundred years.’Robert Bearman, former Head of Archives, Shakespeare Birthplace Trust’In exposing the fabrications that biographers have resorted to in the face of the lack of knowledge of any kind to be had about Shakespeare’s personality and private life, this book is sharply incisive, humorously so as well as forensically. It is also thoroughly informative about Shakespeare’s life, insofar as it is known.’George Donaldson, University of Bristol/A probing account of the ways recent Shakespeare biographers have disguised their lack of information/In the first decade of this century, biographies of Shakespeare poured from the presses in both Britain and the United States. How could this be when the last significant discovery of material with any direct relation to his life dates back to 1909? And why is it that

From the Back Cover

AUTHOR-APPROVED ‘Very readable and often witty: David Ellis makes a convincing and entertaining case that recent biographies of William Shakespeare, though claiming to add to our knowledge of the poet’s life, cannot really do so because the body of directly relevant evidence has remained more or less constant for the last hundred years.’ Robert Bearman, former Head of Archives, Shakespeare Birthplace Trust ‘In exposing the fabrications that biographers have resorted to in the face of the lack of knowledge of any kind to be had about Shakespeare’s personality and private life, this book is sharply incisive, humorously as well as forensically so. It is also thoroughly informative about Shakespeare’s life, insofar as it is known.’ George Donaldson, University of Bristol The Truth about William Shakespeare Fact, Fiction and Modern Biography David Ellis ‘Very readable and often witty, David Ellis draws attention to the fact that all recent biographies of William Shakespeare, though claiming to add to our knowledge of the poet’s life, cannot really do so because the body of directly relevant evidence has remained more or less constant for the last hundred years.’ Robert Bearman, former Head of Archives, Shakespeare Birthplace Trust ‘In exposing the fabrications that biographers have resorted to in the face of the lack of knowledge of any kind to be had about Shakespeare’s personality and private life, this book is sharply incisive, humorously so as well as forensically. It is also thoroughly informative about Shakespeare’s life, insofar as it is known.’ George Donaldson, University of Bristol /A probing account of the ways recent Shakespeare biographers have disguised their lack of information/ In the first decade of this century, biographies of Shakespeare poured from the presses in both Britain and the United States. How could this be when the last significant discovery of material with any direct relation to his life dates back to 1909? And why is it that

About the Author

David Ellis is Professor of English Literature at the University of Kent at Canterbury.

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