"How Original Was Shakespeare?" Topic

"Thanks to decades of meticulous historical research, we know a great deal about the historical life of William Shakespeare. Born in Stratford-upon-Avon into a middle-class family in 1564, he attended one of the best schools in England before joining the theatre. He married young, moved to London and played an active role in some of the most popular and esteemed theatre companies of the age. He wrote extensively and collaborated widely with actors, playwrights and theatrical agents from a diversity of backgrounds. Having made a substantial fortune, he retired to Stratford with his wife and two daughters, before his death at the (relatively) old age of 52.

In its bare outline, Shakespeare's existence was not mundane. Nonetheless, contemporaries, such as Christopher Marlowe – government spy, suspected religious dissident, murdered in a bar room brawl – and Walter Ralegh – soldier, buccaneer, paramour of Elizabeth I – led more remarkable lives. Yet Shakespeare's oeuvre represents a unique work of literary genius and has provoked a multitude of artistic successors throughout history to revivify him in a wide range of mediums. According to Paul Franssen, this tradition has emerged from a singular impulse: ‘[The] desire to speak with the dead … underlies many stories, playlets, prologues and poems, which allow for unmediated contact between moderns and dead writers, including Shakespeare.'…"
Main page
link

Amicalement
Armand