Reading Room - Biographies & General Studies

Jonathan Bate, The Genius of Shakespeare (1997) – not a life from 1564-1616, but a biography of the idea of Shakespeare and perceptions of his greatness; includes a chapter on the 'authorship controversy'

A Companion to Shakespeare , edited by David Scott Kastan (1999) – excellent introductory collection of essays on the plays, the historical context, the Elizabethan theatre and so on; very helpful for students

E. K. Chambers, William Shakespeare: A Study of Facts and Problems (2 vols, 1930) – not a book to read through, but the best compendium of facts and documents about Shakespeare and his theatre

Andrew Dickson – The Rough Guide to Shakespeare (2005) – a reference work and more, which could hardly be bettered, strongly recommended to all students and playgoers; includes information on film and audio versions, also recommendations as to which is the best fully annotated text of each work, though these latter features are already somewhat outdated

Dominic Dromgoole, Will and Me: How Shakespeare took over my Life (2006) – emphatically a book to read through, a passionate and opinionated enthusiast's guide by the Artistic Director of Shakespeare's Globe

Katherine Duncan-Jones, Ungentle Shakespeare: Scenes from his Life (2001) – the least romantic of biographies, with a particularly strong sense of Shakespeare's social status; especially good on such incidents as his quest for a family coat-of-arms

Russell Fraser, Young Shakespeare (1988) and Shakespeare: The Later Years (1992) – the most under-rated of modern biographies, perhaps because published in two volumes (and the second one is not quite as good as the first, which really does bring alive the environment of the young Shakespeare)

Stephen Greenblatt, Will in the World: How Shakespeare became Shakespeare (2004) – admired more by general readers than by scholars, since it is supremely readable but makes sometimes questionable links between Shakespeare's life, world and work (e.g. such identifications as Falstaff as a combination of Shakespeare's father and rival dramatist Robert Greene, or Shylock as the Jewish doctor Roderigo Lopez)

John Gross, After Shakespeare (2002) – a glorious anthology of writings about Shakespeare, both profound and funny; a book that deserves a prominent place on the bedside table of every Shakespeare lover

Park Honan, Shakespeare: A Life (1998) – solidly accurate

A. D. Nuttall, Shakespeare the Thinker (2007) – probably the best single-volume introduction to Shakespeare's mind at work, covering the full range of his plays: fine close readings combined with philosophical and psychological insight

Samuel Schoenbaum, Shakespeare's Lives (1971, new edn 1991) – richly informative and often very funny history of the art and artlessness of Shakespearean biography down the ages

James Shapiro, 1599: A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare (2005) – prize-winning 'micro-history' of a key year in Shakespeare's career

Gary Taylor, Reinventing Shakespeare: A Cultural History from the Restoration to the Present (1989) – iconoclastic take on Shakespeare's 'afterlife'

Peter Thomson, Shakespeare's Professional Career (1992) – a well-illustrated account that is especially strong on Shakespeare's working life in the theatre, especially with regard to the companies for which he wrote

Michael Wood, In Search of Shakespeare (2003) – despite inaccuracies on some matters of detail, a lively account of Shakespeare's world (and especially his neighbours) in both Stratford and London; linked to an excellent BBC/PBS television series with the same title

There are hundreds more fine books on Shakespeare, but anyone who reads The RSC Shakespeare: Complete Works from cover to cover and then devours a reasonable proportion of the above will have earned the right to consider themselves an exceptionally highly informed Shakespearean.