Book description
Little is known of the wife of England's greatest playwright. In
play after play Shakespeare presents the finding of a worthy wife as a
triumphant denouement, yet scholars persist in believing that his own
wife was resented and even hated by him. Here Germaine Greer strives
to re-embed the story of their marriage in its social context and
presents new hypotheses about the life of the farmer's daughter who
married our greatest poet. This is a daring, insightful book that asks
new questions, opens new fields of investigation and research, and
rights the wrongs done to Ann Shakespeare.
Germaine Greer gained her PhD from the University of Cambridge
in 1967 with a thesis on Shakespeare's early comedies and has taught
Shakespeare at universities in Australia, Britain and the US. In 1986
she was invited to contribute the volume on Shakespeare to the
prestigious Past Masters series. In 1989 she set up her own publishing
imprint, Stump Cross Books, and went on to publish scholarly editions
of Katherine Philips, Anne Wharton and Anne Finch, Countess of
Winchilsea. She lives on three acres by a motorway exit in north-west
Essex, with two dogs, thirteen geese and a fluctuating number of
doves. Shakespeare's Wife has also been shortlisted for The
Prime Minister's Literary Awards.
