Critical biography
New Shakespeare biography wins praise in 'Times Literary Supplement'
11:13 a.m., Sept. 10, 2012--A new biography of William Shakespeare by Lois Potter, Ned B. Allen Professor Emerita of English at the University of Delaware, has won praise in the Times Literary Supplement.
The book, The Life of William Shakespeare: A Critical Biography, is published by Willey-Blackwell, in print and through the Wiley Online Library.
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In the 512-page book, Potter demonstrates unparalleled theatrical awareness, focuses first on all on the plays’ original relation to actors and audiences, then on what other people have found most memorable – and debatable – since that time. It pays particular attention to literary and historical contexts that have often been neglected in other studies, including who Shakespeare worked with as an author and an actor and how these various kinds of collaboration may have affected his writing.
In the Aug. 10 edition of the Times Literary Supplement, a review by Russ McDonald says The Life of William Shakespeare “ranks with the most distinguished examples of its kind.” He writes, “Her achievement lies in her catholicity, her simultaneous commitment to matters personal, historical, theatrical, literary, cultural. She exhibits an absolute command of the available facts, a lifetime’s acquaintance with the works gained in teaching and playgoing, an unparalleled familiarity with theatrical history from 1567 to the present, and a talent for connecting the fictional and the actual.”
Potter, who retired from UD in 2010, previously taught at the universities of Aberdeen, Leicester, Paris III-Sorbonne Nouvelle and Tsuda College in Tokyo. Her publications include the Arden edition of The Two Noble Kinsmen, Shakespeare in Performance: Othello and Twelfth Night: Text and Performance, as well as editing two volumes of the Revels History of Drama in English.
For more information about The Life of William Shakespeare, visit the publisher’s website.
