'It is, I think, incontestable to claim that no single person in history has done more for the study and appreciation of Shakespeare than Stanley Wells. This book asks four beguilingly simple questions which result in deeply fascinating and exciting journeys into Shakespeare's mind and practice. As you read, you are very likely to exclaim, as I did, 'Why the hell didn't my English teacher talk like this? Actors, directors, producers, lecturers, teachers, students, and all who want to know and understand more will hug this book to them.' Stephen Fry
Foreword Stephen Fry; 1. What Manner of Man Was He?; 2. How Did Shakespeare Write a Play?; 3. What Do the Sonnets Tell Us about Their Author?; 4. What Made Shakespeare Laugh?; Epilogue: Eight Decades with Shakespeare.
Professor Sir Stanley Wells, CBE, FRSL, is Honorary President at The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. His many successful books include Shakespeare: For All Time (2002), Looking for Sex in Shakespeare (2004), Shakespeare & Co. (2006), Shakespeare, Sex, and Love (2010) and Great Shakespeare Actors (2015). He is co-editor of The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare on Stage (with Sarah Stanton, Cambridge University Press, 2002), The New Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare (with Margreta de Grazia, Cambridge University Press, 2010), The Shakespeare Circle: An Alternative Biography (with Paul Edmondson, Cambridge University Press, 2015) and All the Sonnets of Shakespeare (also with Paul Edmondson, Cambridge University Press, 2020). He is also the General Editor of the Oxford and Penguin editions of Shakespeare.