Young Shakespeare: Volume 1

by Russell A. Fraser

This biography of the playwright's first 30 years places him firmly in the setting of Renaissance England and selects various scenes of his life. Numerous quotations from Shakespeare's plays appear throughout the text to illustrate his growth and development.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0231067658
• ISBN13: 9780231067652
• Release Date: April 1992
• Publisher: Columbia University Press
• Length: 247 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.8" x 8.9"
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Scholarly Book, Academic Narrator

The AudioFile review of the audio cassette version of this book is spot on: this is not a book for "casual readers" interested in Shakespeare's early life. The book's attention to details, historical figures, poetry and much more is better suited for a relatively serious student of the Bard. I also agree that you'll find little "actual anecdotes" of Shakespeare's life, which is not surprising since it's well-known that his early life and personal life in general are a mystery. Instead, we are presented more of the cultural and social milieu that he must have moved through. The narrator has an academic and dry tone throughout the book - which I found initially offputting - but, like the review says, that may be because "there's nothing involving in the text." I have to admit that I preferred Greenblatt's "Will in the World" but I am a more casual reader.