Shakespeare : a life / Park Honan.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Honan, Park.

Contributor:

Horace Howard Furness Memorial Fund.

Horace Howard Furness Memorial Library (University of Pennsylvania)

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616--Biography.

Shakespeare, William.

Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616.

Dramatists, English--Early modern, 1500-1700--Biography.

Dramatists, English.

Dramatists, English--Early modern--Biography.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

xvi, 479 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, maps ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 1998.

Summary:

In the most complete, accurate, and up-to-date narrative of Shakespeare's life ever written, Park Honan uses a wealth of fresh information to dramatically alter our perceptions of the actor, poet, and playwright.

The young poet's relationships, his early courtship of Anne Hathaway, their marriage, his attitudes to women such as Jennet Davenant, Marie Mountjoy, and his own daughters, are seen in a new light, illuminating Shakespeare's needs, habits, passions, and concerns. Park Honan examines the world of the playing companies--the power of patronage, theatrical conditions, and personal rivalries--to reveal the relationship between the man and the writing, and using previously unpublished material explores the causes of Shakespeare's success, Stratford childhood, his parents' capabilities, and his preparations for a London career. Shakespeare: A Life casts new light on the complexity and fascination of Shakespeare's life and his extraordinary development as an artist.

Contents:

A Note on Conventions Used in the Text xvi

I. A Stratford Youth

1. Birth

Stratford

Master Bretchgirdle's arrival

The chamberlain's first son 3

2. Mother of the Child

Mary Shakespeare at Henley Street

'Hic incepit pestis'

Air and music 11

3. John Shakespeare's Fortunes

In the bailiff's family

Debts and a downfall 25

4. To Grammar School

A classroom

Rhetoric at dawn

The Lord of Misrule 43

5. Opportunity and Need

'In the Countrey'

Upon a promontory

Returning 60

6. Love and Early Marriage

Anne Hathaway and the Shottery fields

A licence for lovers

After Davy Jones's show 72

II. Actor and Poet of the London Stage

7. To London

and the Amphitheatre Players

Streets and conduits

Hirelings, repertory, and poets

Crab the dog 95

8. Attitudes

Marlowe, Kyd, and Shoreditch

'I am the sea': Titus Andronicus and the Shrew

The white rose of York 120

9. The City in September

Plague and prospects

The 'waspish little worme' and 'upstart Crow'

Shagbag, The Comedy of Errors, and Love's Labour's Lost 145

10. A Patron, Poems, and Company Work

To the 'Earle of Southampton'

The sonneteer

Politics and King John 169

11. A Servant of the Lord Chamberlain

Sharing with the Burbages

Dreams and the doors of breath

Falstaff, Hal, and a Henriad 196.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 415-450) and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Horace Howard Furness Memorial Fund.

ISBN:

0198117922

OCLC:

39217395