The Genius of Shakespeare

‘The best book about Shakespeare for a generation’ Philip Howard, The Times
‘As brilliant an account of the Bard’s iconic universality as you could hope to find’ Michael Billington, Guardian
‘Absolutely dazzling – illuminates the whole man and the influence he has in our lives’ Simon Callow, Sunday Express
‘Occupies the territory of biography, literary criticism, theatrical and social history, and a journey across its landscape is one of constant delight and illumination’ Sir Richard Eyre, Financial Times, Books of the Year
‘The theme of this wonderfully written, diverse book is diversity itself, and the range of the essays serves only to confirm the disparate nature of Shakespeare’s achievement’ Peter Ackroyd, The Times
‘The liveliest and most intelligent general book on Shakespeare I have read for a long time’ John Gross, Sunday Telegraph, Books of the Year
Ambitious, exceptionally well informed and immensely engaging … Bate writes with unflagging energy, intelligence, with and enthusiasm * Daily Telegraph *

Jonathan Bate is Professor of English Literature in the University of Oxford, where he is Provost of Worcester College. He is the editor of the highly acclaimed RSC Shakespeare: Complete Works (Macmillan) and the author of many books, including John Clare: A Biography (Picador), which was shortlisted for seven prizes and won Britain’s two oldest literary awards, the Hawthornden Prize and the James Tait Black Prize. His biography of Ted Hughes was shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize. Professor Bate has lectured on Shakespeare throughout the world and has held visiting posts at Harvard, Yale and the University of California. In January 2015 he became the youngest person ever to have been knighted for services to literary scholarship.

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