Why people recommend it
Shakespeare's Wife by Germaine Greer is a biographical study that investigates the life of Anne Hathaway and challenges conventional historical narratives surrounding her marriage to William Shakespeare. The book was prominently featured on The Book Review in July 2024 during an interview titled John Lithgow on Drama and Maggie O'Farrell on Hamnet, as well as in a dedicated episode titled Maggie O'Farrell on Hamnet, where guest Maggie O'Farrell referenced Greer's arguments to support her own creative perspective. O'Farrell noted that in Shakespeare's Wife, Greer asserted that generations of biographers and scholars had been asking the completely wrong question all along, arguing that instead of wondering why Shakespeare married Hathaway, researchers should have examined the circumstances and motivations from a different angle entirely. O'Farrell used this provocative premise to illuminate her own fictional exploration of the playwright's family life, illustrating how Greer's revisionist history provides valuable context for reimagining the silent figures of the Elizabethan era. These podcast segments highlighted the book's provocative scholarly impact, demonstrating how Greer's rigorous interrogation of sparse historical records can inspire modern artists and writers to challenge established orthodoxies, rescue historical women from obscurity, and construct richer, more nuanced narratives about the private lives behind literary history.
Who recommended it
- Maggie O'Farrell Discussed
Maggie O'Farrell — 2 mentions
“In her book Shakespeare's wife Jermaine Grier says that we've been asking the wrong question all along that we should have been asking why did she marry him”
“in her book Shakespeare's wife Jermaine Grier says that we've been asking the wrong question all along that we should have been asking why did she marry him”