Shakespeare's Other Lives

Abstract

to separate facts of Shakespeare's life and career from myths that have entangled them, fictions about Shakespeare create a curious dilemma. On one hand, such fictions often invoke-and even embrace-the very legends that scholarship has sought to discredit. On other, scholars share with authors of such work a kinship of interest. Like theologians fascinated by sin, many Shakespeareans develop an affection for even most arcane or misleading piece of Shakespeareana. The ambivalence towards conscious fictions of those who have devoted their lives to identifying and correcting biographical fictions may explain why large collection of novels, stories, and plays about Shakespeare is so rarely discussed.1 Although questions of intentional fallacies occasionally arise, few readers have trouble distinguishing between conscious and unconscious fictions. The large body of conscious fictions involving Shakespeare offers a rich variety, ranging from anachronistic fantasy to scrupulous fidelity, from bardolatrous flights to Marxian dialectics, and from Catholic apologetics to an attempt to establish Ulysses S. Grant as head of a state-governed Church of America. Most authors have larger ambitions than mere art. They offer solutions to identities of W.H. and Dark Lady, suggest Shakespeare's role in shaping King James Bible, and trace his relationships with Sir Thomas Lucy, Francis Bacon, Elizabeth I, Kit Marlowe, and Ben Jonson. They celebrate, mourn, and demean Anne. And they speculate endlessly about Shakespeare's pets and poaching, his sources and inspirations, his melancholy and death. For most part, these other lives reinforce patterns that have emerged in studies of biographies. In a few cases, they also offer interesting experiments in fiction or drama, works worth reading for their own sake. I have divided material into seven broad categories, discussing under each some representative examples. The first five categories involve differing approaches to Shakespeare himself. Cygnets and Daytrippers, first two categories, provide younger or less experienced readers an entrance to his world. Approaching more sophisticated audiences, Domestics and Players, third and fourth categories, attempt to identify the essential man, former at home and latter in theatre. The last of categories includes those for whom relevance is a 1 As my title suggests, any discussion of Shakespearean biography-whether fictional or factual-owes a major debt to S. Schoenbaum's groundbreaking work in Shakespeare's Lives (New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1970). I am also indebted to Dr. Levi Fox and librarians of Shakespeare Centre at Stratford.