The Man Shakespeare, His Tragic Life Story

This work starts with an Introduction by J.H. Stape, St Marys University College, Strawberry Hill. First published in 1909, The Man Shakespeare and his Tragic Life is a lively biography of England and arguably the worlds greatest playwright and poet by an ardent admirer. Pursuing the thesis that a man so elusive in the few surviving documents is found full blown in very one of his works, Frank Harris, a successful journalist and editor, turns his hand to creating an impressionistic portrait that is at once a highly idiosyncratic exploration of the plays and a telling of the life through them.A product of late-Victorian Bardolatry, Harris Shakespeare was both hailed and criticised in its day, the New York Times reviewer declaring that This is the book for which we have waited a lifetime, while academic critics attacked it as nonsense. Controversial and self-confident, this biographical study retains its interest as a work of period charm. Bristling with fresh, if not always convincing, arguments, combative in style, and with a full battery of belletristic effects, Harris, as ever, pulls off a tour de force.