''Shakespeare's Wife'' is a book by feminist academic Germaine Greer which was first published in 2007 by

Bloomsbury Bloomsbury is a district in the West End of London, part of the London Borough of Camden in England. It is considered a fashionable residential area, and is the location of numerous cultural institution, cultural, intellectual, and educational ...

. The book is a biography of

Anne Hathaway Anne Jacqueline Hathaway (born November 12, 1982) is an American actress. List of awards and nominations received by Anne Hathaway, Her accolades include an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Primetime ...

, the wife of English poet and playwright

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

who was born in Shottery, a former small village within

Stratford-upon-Avon Stratford-upon-Avon ( ), commonly known as Stratford, is a market town and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon (district), Stratford-on-Avon district, in the county of Warwickshire, in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands region of Engl ...

. At the time of its publication, very little was known about Hathaway with most information being sourced from historic legal documents. Greer, in addition to discussing the content of Hathaway's life, also outlines various aspects of a provincial Elizabethan woman's life as a means to understand the lifestyle she likely led. The book also talks in-depth about the marriage between William Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway and challenges various theories surrounding it. Greer also argues that Hathaway was likely literate and, based on the standing of their families in Warwickshire, may have been regarded as a more desirable match when compared to her husband.

Reception

In an article published in

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

, Charles Nicholl says, "In part her book succeeds in this mission. She gives a robust account of Ann's origins and formative family experiences: she finds the Hathaways 'a frugal, no-nonsense people,' and notes the Puritan leanings of some of the family." In '' Literary Review'', Katherine Duncan-Jones comments on a “savagely expressed scorn for everyone else who has ever written about Shakespeare”, describing it as “a damagingly distracting deformity.” An article published in

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

also commented "Though generally appreciative, several Shakespeare scholars have found Greer's approach 'stridently ..combative' and full of 'scattergun assaults.' But for those accustomed to Greer's feminist provocations, "Shakespeare’s Wife" will seem extremely sober and restrained." Reviewing the book for ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...

'', Marilyn French said that "Greer offers a richly textured account of the lives of ordinary women in Stratford and similar towns in the late 16th and early 17th centuries."

References

Books by Germaine Greer Biographical books English-language non-fiction books {{bio-book-stub