Stanley Wells, described by Roy Hattersley as 'Our greatest authority on Shakespeare's life and work', is Honorary President of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, Emeritus Professor of Shakespeare Studies of the University of Birmingham, and Honorary Emeritus Governor of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. Professor Wells has an extensive record of publications, mostly concerned with Shakespeare and his contemporaries. He was for nearly twenty years the editor of the annual Shakespeare Survey, and writes for the TLS and many other publications. He has edited The New Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare Studies and is General Editor (with Gary Taylor) of The Complete Oxford Shakespeare and co-author of William Shakespeare: A Textual Companion. His recent books include Shakespeare in the Theatre: An Anthology of Criticism; The Oxford Dictionary of Shakespeare; Looking for Sex in Shakespeare, and Is It True What They Say About Shakespeare?

This eloquent, humane and balanced book wears its erudition lightly.

• PREFACE; INTRODUCTION; PART ONE: LIFE AND TIMES; PART TWO: PLAYS AND POEMS; CONCLUSION; FURTHER READING

Stanley Wells, described by Roy Hattersley as 'Our greatest authority on Shakespeare's life and work', is Honorary President of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, Emeritus Professor of Shakespeare Studies of the University of Birmingham, and Honorary Emeritus Governor of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. Professor Wells has an extensive record of publications, mostly concerned with Shakespeare and his contemporaries. He was for nearly twenty years the editor of the annual Shakespeare Survey, and writes for the TLS and many other publications. He has edited The New Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare Studies and is General Editor (with Gary Taylor) of The Complete Oxford Shakespeare and co-author of William Shakespeare: A Textual Companion. His recent books include Shakespeare in the Theatre: An Anthology of Criticism; The Oxford Dictionary of Shakespeare; Looking for Sex in Shakespeare, and Is It True What They Say About Shakespeare?

This eloquent, humane and balanced book wears its erudition lightly.

• PREFACE; INTRODUCTION; PART ONE: LIFE AND TIMES; PART TWO: PLAYS AND POEMS; CONCLUSION; FURTHER READING

Stanley Wells, described by Roy Hattersley as 'Our greatest authority on Shakespeare's life and work', is Honorary President of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, Emeritus Professor of Shakespeare Studies of the University of Birmingham, and Honorary Emeritus Governor of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. Professor Wells has an extensive record of publications, mostly concerned with Shakespeare and his contemporaries. He was for nearly twenty years the editor of the annual Shakespeare Survey, and writes for the TLS and many other publications. He has edited The New Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare Studies and is General Editor (with Gary Taylor) of The Complete Oxford Shakespeare and co-author of William Shakespeare: A Textual Companion. His recent books include Shakespeare in the Theatre: An Anthology of Criticism; The Oxford Dictionary of Shakespeare; Looking for Sex in Shakespeare, and Is It True What They Say About Shakespeare?

This eloquent, humane and balanced book wears its erudition lightly.

• PREFACE; INTRODUCTION; PART ONE: LIFE AND TIMES; PART TWO: PLAYS AND POEMS; CONCLUSION; FURTHER READING