The Quest for Shakespeare: The Bard of Avon and the Church of RomeHighly regarded and best-selling literary writer and teacher, Joseph Pearce presents a stimulating and vivid biography of the world's most revered writer that is sure to be controversial. Unabashedly provocative, with scholarship, insight and keen observation, Pearce strives to separate historical fact from fiction about the beloved Bard. Shakespeare is not only one of the greatest figures in human history, he is also one of the most controversial and one of the most elusive. He is famous and yet almost unknown. Who was he? What were his beliefs? Can we really understand his plays and his poetry if we don't know the man who wrote them? These are some of the questions that are asked and answered in this gripping and engaging study of the world's greatest ever poet. The Quest for Shakespeare claims that books about the Bard have got him totally wrong. They misread the man and misread the work. The true Shakespeare has eluded the grasp of the critics. Dealing with the facts of Shakespeare's life and times, Pearce's quest leads to the inescapable conclusion that Shakespeare was a believing Catholic living in very anti-Catholic times. Many of his friends and family were persecuted, and even executed, for their Catholic faith. And yet he seems to have avoided any notable persecution himself. How did he do this? How did he respond to the persecution of his friends and family? What did he say about the dreadful and intolerant times in which he found himself? The Quest for Shakespeare answers these questions in ways that will enlighten and astonish those who love Shakespeare's work, and that will shock and outrage many of his critics. This book is full of surprises for beginner and expert alike. |
From inside the book
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... Jesuit missionaries to England , Edmund Campion and Robert Persons . It seems likely that St. Charles Borromeo wrote the devotional formula some time between 1576 and 1578 when the plague struck Milan , killing an estimated seventeen ...
... Jesuits brought copies of the “ Testament " with them when they arrived in England in 1580. We know that Edmund Campion and Robert Persons stayed with Charles Borromeo on their way to England from Rome , stopping with the cardinal in ...
... Jesuit mission . How would one smuggle thousands of copies of an expensive eight hundred - page quarto volume past the wary officers at the English ports ? And assuming that one managed to smuggle the shipment into England , how would ...
... Jesuit martyr.'s In other words , to put the matter simply , Wood is saying that the silence is palpably deafening and that it implies a resolute Catholic resistance to the new religion , the very absence of any evidence of conformity ...
... Jesuits or Fugitives ... & c . And in like manner shall cause inquisition and examination to be made of all persons that have heretofore given or shall hereafter give assistance , succour or relief in diet , lodging , pension , reward ...
Contents
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13 | |
15 | |
30 | |
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55 | |
A Rose by Any Other Name | 64 |
Playing Safe with the Queen | 118 |
Red Herrings and Codpieces | 129 |
Friends and Family | 135 |
The Kings Good Servant | 141 |
Last Years | 151 |
He Died a Papist | 164 |
Prefatory Note to the Appendices | 173 |
Appendix A The Challenge of Shakespeare | 174 |
Loves Labors | 79 |
Lost Years | 88 |
Murdered Spy | 99 |
Martyred Priest | 107 |
Finding the Comedy in the Tragedy | 181 |
Bibliography | 201 |
Index | 207 |