Is It True What They Say About Shakespeare?

by Stanley Wells

Book by Wells, Stanley W.

Genres: Shakespeare

176 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 2007

About the author

Stanley William Wells, CBE, is a Shakespeare scholar and Chairman of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust

Reviews

[Michael P. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I vacillated between giving this book 4 or 5 stars, but in the end was inclined to be generous. This book is delightfully written, enormous fun to read, wide in its knowledge, and judicious in its opinions. There are a few lapses, such as saying it is "perfectly possible" that Shakespeare wrote the lyric "Shall I Did?" Possible, yes, but perfectly improbable, I'm afraid. I would prefer Sir Stanley to be a tad more skeptical that Shakespeare was co-author of the lost play "Cardenio." I have a couple of other reservations, as well. Nevertheless, this book has more learning and good sense per page than most books about Shakespeare and it seem churlish to let these few defects, which are indeed differences of opinion, bar this book from receiving five stars.