William Shakespeare: The Man Behind the Genius - Hardcover

Anthony Holden doesn't pull any punches in his choice of biographical subjects. Having already taken on the Prince of Wales, Laurence Olivier, and Tchaikovsky, this time Holden has gone for no less than the Bard himself. Dismissing claims that there is nothing left to say about the poet and playwright, Holden's bold study argues that, on the contrary, the archives are rich with traces of Shakespeare as husband, father, actor, dramatist, poet, and Stratford lad made good. Holden also argues that "if each generation recreates Shakespeare in its own image," then we need a new version for the 21st century. He obliges with a racy, incident-packed account of the glovemaker's son who rose to subsequent immortality via the stage of Elizabethan London. In addition to poring over the established evidence, Holden makes some controversial but intriguing claims. Not only was Shakespeare a covert Catholic who spent his so-called lost years as a budding actor in Catholic households in Lancashire under the name of "Shakeshafte" but he also suffered from sexually transmitted diseases, experienced a nervous breakdown, fathered an illegitimate son via his middle-aged landlady, and sailed close to the political wind with what Holden sees as his residual Catholic and "republican instincts." It's all very entertaining--if at times far out on its own interpretative limb--and a lively and refreshing approach to the Bard as an Elizabethan man behaving badly. William Shakespeare: The Man Behind the Genius may not be for all time, but it resonates richly with our times. --Jerry Brotton

British journalist and biographer Holden (Charles at Fifty, 1998) tries his hand at Shakespeare's life, poring over numerous sources in an earnest attempt to separate historical truth from legend.With hundreds of Shakespeare biographies already in existence, Holden's task was not an easy one. Many voices speak from the pages of his work, but Holden does not give in to any single opinion or theory (from speculations regarding the obscure period of Shakespeare's youth to his possible but unlikely participation in the translation of King James's Bible). The Shakespeare portrayed here is a talented writer, a pragmatist rather than romantic in his vision of himself and his legacy. According to Holden, Shakespeare never expected his plays to outlive him, and he wrote his most beautiful sonnets for a narrow circle of intimates. Despite powerful patrons (including Queen Elizabeth and King James) and his immediate and stable fame, when it came to worldly affairs Shakepeare relied uniquely on his shrewd mercantile sense. Besides being a playwright and an actor, he was usually involved in the theater as a manager and shareholder (he owned one-tenth of the celebrated Globe playhouse, for instance). Although he never spent sufficient time with his family (deserting his native Stratford shortly after his marriage to Anne Hathaway and coming back only for brief stays until his retirement at 47), Shakespeare established his household in the biggest house in town and took the trouble to purchase a coat-of-arms. Holden indicates the obvious shortcomings of Shakespeare as husband and father, while also effectively debunking the common belief in his homosexuality. Shakepeare felt deep grief over the childhood death of his only male heir, Hamnet, and the tragic interruption of a father-son relationship resonates in his later works, reaching an acute pitch in Hamlet. A solid but uninspiring biography that is heavy on facts but lacks an engaging reading of Shakepeare's own writings. -- Copyright © 2000 Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.