General introduction Paul Edmondson and Stanley Wells; Part I. Family: 1. His mother Mary Shakespeare Michael Wood; 2. His father John Shakespeare David Fallow; 3. His siblings Catherine Richardson; 4. His sister's family: the Harts Cathy Shrank; 5. His wife Anne Shakespeare and the Hathaways Katherine Scheil; 6. His daughter Susanna Hall Lachlan Mackinnon; 7. His son-in-law John Hall Greg Wells; 8. His son Hamnet Shakespeare Graham Holderness; 9. His daughter Judith and the Quineys Germaine Greer; 10. His granddaughter Lady Elizabeth Barnard René Weis; 11. His 'cousin': Thomas Greene Tara Hamling; Part II. Friends and Neighbours: 12. A close family connection: the Combes Stanley Wells; 13. Schoolfriend, publisher and printer Richard Field Carol Chillington Rutter; 14. Living with the Mountjoys David Kathman; 15. Ben Jonson David Riggs; 16. Richard Barnfield, John Weever, William Basse and other encomiasts Andrew Hadfield; 17. Last things: Shakespeare's neighbours and beneficiaries Susan Brock; Part III. Colleagues and Patrons: 18. His fellow dramatists and early collaborators Andy Kesson; 19. His theatre friends: the Burbages John H. Astington; 20. His fellow actors Will Kemp, Robert Armin and other members of the Lord Chamberlain's Men and the King's Men Bart Van Es; 21. His literary patrons Alan H. Nelson; 22. His collaborator George Wilkins Duncan Salkeld; 23. His collaborator Thomas Middleton Emma Smith; 24. His collaborator John Fletcher Lucy Munro; 25. His editors John Heminges and Henry Condell Paul Edmondson; Closing remarks Paul Edmondson and Stanley Wells; Afterword Margaret Drabble; Index.
This collection tells the life stories of the people whom we know Shakespeare encountered, shedding new light on Shakespeare's life and times.
Paul Edmondson is Head of Research at The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. He has authored and co-edited numerous articles and books on Shakespeare, including Shakespeare's Sonnets (with Stanley Wells, 2004), The Shakespeare Handbooks: Twelfth Night (2005) and Shakespeare: Ideas in Profile (2015). Stanley Wells, CBE, FRSL, is Honorary President at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. His many books include Shakespeare: For All Time (2002), Looking for Sex in Shakespeare (2004), Shakespeare & Co. (2006), Shakespeare, Sex, and Love (2010) and Great Shakespeare Actors (2015). He edited Shakespeare Survey for almost twenty years, and is co-editor of The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare on Stage (with Sarah Stanton, Cambridge, 2002) and The New Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare (with Margreta de Grazia, Cambridge, 2010). He is also the General Editor of the Oxford and Penguin editions of Shakespeare.
'Wonderfully conceived and executed, and drawing on the expertise
of some of the finest literary historians at work today, The
Shakespeare Circle offers a richly rewarding alternative to the
'cradle to grave' biography, allowing us to see Shakespeare afresh
through the lives of his friends, relatives, neighbours, fellow
actors and rivals.' James Shapiro, Columbia University, New
York
'Anyone who reads these collected biographical essays and sketches
will come to know Shakespeare himself better.' Dame Margaret
Drabble, from the Afterword
'Full of fresh and fascinating detail, The Shakespeare Circle zooms
out for the long view, linking the life of the playwright to the
many different lives that surrounded him. A completely new way of
understanding Shakespearian biography.' Andrew Dickson, author of
Worlds Elsewhere: Journeys Around Shakespeare's Globe
'Stanley Wells [is the] doyen of Shakespeare studies … As the
novelist Margaret Drabble observes in her afterword, we should not
be surprised that Shakespeare's life still yields surprises - but
invariably we are.' Jerry Bruton, Financial Times
'… a remarkable collection …' Charles Nicholl, London Review of
Books
'For readers in search of Shakespeare, this collection holds out
the promise of discovery, anticipating more evidence of
collaboration, heralding fresh findings which may be gleaned from
the ongoing archeologic dig at New Place, and issuing a call for
scholars to pursue Shakespeare's missing papers, which might be
discovered in the possession of descendants of the Barnard family.
Its essays are distinguished by their thought-provoking research
and fertile re-examination of the documentary record, creating
intersections that generate fresh perspectives and invite the
reader to imagine new narratives.' The Shakespeare Newsletter
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