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The Complete Life of William Shakespeare
- Author
- Paul Menzer
- Narrator
- Mike Read
- Publisher
- Bloomsbury Publishing
- Publish Date
- 29 October 2026
- Run Time
- 8 hours 43 minutes
- Format
- Audiobook
- Genre
- Biography: writers
What to expect
Shakespeare’s extraordinarily ordinary life condenses into a charming but brief biography in this arresting tale of love, loss and return. Beginning with the early departure to the final homecoming, Paul Menzer considers the wonder of Shakespeare’s story with the little facts we have about his life to guide us through the language and characters which define Shakespeare.
Life events are glimpsed across Shakespeare’s wide-ranging output, be it personal quest and departure from a small town in The Taming of The Shew, the death of a father and the cruel loss of his own son in Hamlet, or retirement and old age in The Tempest’s figure of Prospero. Menzer honours the well-known stories without neglecting the mysteries of why Shakespeare left Stratford, who he ran with in London and why he put down his pen to come home to Anne and his family again, and again.
This edition is adapted from William Shakespeare: A Brief Life with an updated introduction, further connections between Shakespeare’s works and personal biography, cutting-edge scholarship and recent archival discoveries about Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway.
Critics Review
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As wry and witty as it is thorough and thoughtful, Menzer’s eminently readable study is the most fun you will ever have with a biography of Shakespeare.
Andrew Hartley, Robinson Distinguished Professor of Shakespeare, The University of North Carolina at Charlotte, USA
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Written with verve, this biography is as breezy as it is illuminating.
Laurie Maguire, Fellow, Magdalen College, and Professor Emeritus, University of Oxford, UK
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With his characteristic wit, humour, and incisive intelligence, Paul Menzer demonstrates not only why it is so hard to pin down the details of Shakespeare’s life, but he shows us the rich and layered texture of Shakespeare’s culture. It is Menzer’s specific approach to Shakespearean biography that has moved us a step closer to knowing the playwright, more so than other more sprawling biographies ever could. It is essential reading for those who wish to get to know Shakespeare in his own moment and learn how he got to be such a Goliath in ours.
Farah Karim-Cooper, Director, Folger Shakespeare Library, USA.
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Details
- Author
- Paul Menzer
- Narrator
- Mike Read
- Duration
- 8 hours 43 minutes
- Release Date
- 29 October 2026
- ISBN
- 9781350597303
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- Bloomsbury Publishing
- Genre
- Biography: writers
Synopsis
Bloomsbury presents The Complete Life of William Shakespeare by Paul Menzer, read by Mike Read.Shakespeare’s extraordinarily ordinary life condenses into a charming but brief biography in this arresting tale of love, loss and return. Beginning with the early departure to the final homecoming, Paul Menzer considers the wonder of Shakespeare’s story with the little facts we have about his life to guide us through the language and characters which define Shakespeare.Life events are glimpsed across Shakespeare’s wide-ranging output, be it personal quest and departure from a small town in The Taming of The Shew, the death of a father and the cruel loss of his own son in Hamlet, or retirement and old age in The Tempest’s figure of Prospero. Menzer honours the well-known stories without neglecting the mysteries of why Shakespeare left Stratford, who he ran with in London and why he put down his pen to come home to Anne and his family again, and again.This edition is adapted from William Shakespeare: A Brief Life with an updated introduction, further connections between Shakespeare’s works and personal biography, cutting-edge scholarship and recent archival discoveries about Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway.
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