Book description
An original and provocative study of the evolution of Shakespeare's
image, building on the success of Duncan-Jones' acclaimed biography of
Shakespeare. Taking a broadly chronological approach, she investigates
Shakespeare's changing reputation, as a man, an actor and a poet, both
from his own viewpoint and from that of his contemporaries. Many
different categories of material are explored, including printed books,
manuscripts, literary and non-literary sources. There are biographical
elements, but it is not a biography. The change in public opinion in
Shakespeare's time is quite startling: Henry Chettle attacked him as an
'upstart Crow' in 1592, an attack from which Shakespeare sought to
defend himself; and yet by the time of the First Folio in 1623 he had
become the 'Sweet Swan of Avon!' and was fast becoming the national
treasure he remains today. This engaging and fascinating study brings
the politics and fashions of Shakespeare's literary and theatrical world
vividly to life Katherine Duncan Jones is an internationally respected
Shakespeare scholar, author of the critically acclaimed biography
Shakespeare: An Ungentle Life, editor of the Arden Shakespeare edition
of Shakespeare's Sonnets and co-editor of the Arden Shakespeare's Poems.
She is a Fellow of Somerville College, Oxford
