“[A] highly readable introduction to the Life and Works, in the best tradition of that ancient and worthy genre. It is furthermore a piece of New Historical criticism at its sober best … With such impressive scholarly credentials, [Callaghan] is more than well equipped to provide original and perceptive introductions to Shakespeare’s life and works. But this is no mere mechanical life-and-works primer, like the dozens already available on the market and on college bookshop shelves … This [is a] substantial work of criticism, presented as an introduction to Shakespeare the man and his work, but amounting to considerably more than mere introduction. Dympna Callaghan meets admirably the challenge she set herself in the bold question of the title: who was William Shakespeare? For she shows us very well indeed who he was – and is – and why.”(Cercles, 1 June 2014)
Featured in Times Literary Supplement – 25 October 2013
“Dympna Callaghan’s lucid and well-structured textbook allows students to see the plays in their context.” (Times Literary Supplement, 25 October 2013)
“The book should interest readers who are curious about Shakespeare’s life and the social and political history of England. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty; general readers.” (Choice, 1 August 2013)
“This is a great introduction to Shakespeare and his plays for undergraduates, in particular. Dympna Callaghan writes lucid, lively prose, and she explains complex historical points clearly. There is no mystification here, and students should find this an inviting guide to Shakespeare as a dramatist embedded in a particular historical moment.”―Jean Howard, Columbia University
“This is a thoroughly excellent book which deserves to be widely read by scholars, students and the general public”―Andrew Murphy, University of St Andrews
“In ‘Who Was William Shakespeare?’ one of our leading Shakespearean critics goes back to the fundamentals of Shakespearean scholarship, and rethinks the entire Shakespeare canon in the light of the world and the life from which it was fashioned. This is a book for anyone, expert or otherwise, who has ever marvelled at Shakespeare’s plays and wondered about the experiences and the assumptions that inform them.” ―Michael Dobson, University of Birmingham
From the Inside Flap
WHO WAS WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE?
What kind of world made the man who was capable of producing so many of the world’s literary masterpieces, and what kind of life did he live? In this fascinating new book, Dympna Callaghan explores the question of Shakespeare’s life in order to throw new light on his works.
Organized as a series of juxtapositions between his life and writing, Who Was William Shakespeare? provides a clear guide to selected plays and sonnets, while deepening our knowledge about the writer’s literary achievement and his historical moment.
Shakespeare’s life cannot explain his works, but it can help us to understand them.
From the Back Cover
WHO WAS WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE?
What kind of world made the man who was capable of producing so many of the world’s literary masterpieces, and what kind of life did he live? In this fascinating new book, Dympna Callaghan explores the question of Shakespeare’s life in order to throw new light on his works.
Organized as a series of juxtapositions between his life and writing, Who Was William Shakespeare? provides a clear guide to selected plays and sonnets, while deepening our knowledge about the writer’s literary achievement and his historical moment.
Shakespeare’s life cannot explain his works, but it can help us to understand them.
About the Author
DYMPNA CALLAGHAN is William L. Sa???re Professor of Modern Letters at Syracuse University and President of the Shakespeare Association of America, 201213. She is the editor of the Arden Shakespeare Language and Writing Series and coeditor, with Michael Dobson, of the Palgrave Shakespeare Studies series. Her publications include Shakespeare Without Women (2000), The Taming of the Shrew: A Norton Critical Edition (2009), Shakespeare’s Sonnets (2007), The Impact of Feminism in English Renaissance Culture (2006), and Romeo and Juliet: Texts and Contexts (2003).
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