In 1612 Shakespeare gave evidence at the Court of Requests in Westminster - it is the only occasion his spoken words are recorded. The case seems routine - a dispute over an unpaid marriage-dowry - but it opens up an unexpected window into the dramatist's famously obscure life-story. Charles Nicholl applies a powerful biographical magnifying glass to this fascinating episode in Shakespeare's life. Marshalling evidence from a wide variety of sources, including previously unknown documentary material on the Mountjoys, he conjures up a detailed and compelling description of the circumstances in which Shakespeare lived and worked, and in which he wrote such plays as Othello, Measure for Measure and King Lear.
ISBN: | 9780141023748 |
Publication date: | 3rd July 2008 |
Author: | Charles Nicholl |
Publisher: | Penguin Books an imprint of Penguin Books Ltd |
Format: | Paperback |
Pagination: | 377 pages |
Genres: |
Biography: writers Literary studies: c 1600 to c 1800 Literary studies: plays and playwrights |