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Type of bind: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 822.33
EAN num: 9781586172244
ISBN number: 1586172247
Label: Ignatius Press
Manufacturer: Ignatius Press
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 216
Printing Date: 2008-04
Publishing house: Ignatius Press
Sale Popularity Level: 43919
Studio: Ignatius Press
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Highly 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.
'Joseph Pearce writes piercingly brilliant books. This is one of them. He usually writes dramatic biographies. This is not one of them. It is not a biography and it is the least dramatic book he has written. But it is also the most important one. To see its importance, try the following thought-experiment. Imagine a book that convincingly proved that Homer was a Jew, or that Milton was a lapsed Catholic, or that Dante was a proto-Protestant. The idea would have far-ranging consequences. It would cast a new light on everything we knew about Homer, or Milton, or Dante. In his subsequent book Pearce will trace the consequences of Shakespeare's Catholicism in his plays. In this book, he proves it historically. I mean proves it. (Pearce would make a formidable lawyer.) The evidence is simply overwhelming.'
-- Peter Kreeft, Ph.D., Boston College, Author, Summa of the Summa
'I've long suspected that there was a deep Catholic sensibility in the plays of Shakespeare -- an emphasis on man's powerlessness without grace, yet also an openness to the sacramentality of nature, and to the energetic work of dutiful yet often mistrusted or despised servants. Pearce shows that Shakespeare himself was such a dutiful servant, ever dutiful to the Queen, but to God first. He does not leap to conclusions, but builds a case that is meticulous, reasonable, and convincing.'
-- Anthony Esolen, Ph.D., Providence College Professor of Renaissance English
'Joseph Pearce has brought together here a mass of material on the vexed question as to Shakespeare's religious affiliation -- a question which scholars have traditionally tried sedulously to ignore. But it is a question of more than merely neutral historic curiosity. Readers, I feel sure, will be quickly drawn in to the matter. Once again, we owe Mr. Pearce a great debt.'
-- Thomas Howard, Ph.D. Author, Dove Descending: T. S. Eliot's Four Quartets
'What more is there to be said about William Shakespeare? Yet the supply of books on the great dramatist is never ending. Now, however, there is a new reason for this supply. The religion of Shakespeare, and specifically his Catholicism, is now recognized as a `hot topic' both in the academic and the publishing world. And now Joseph Pearce, long recognized as a brilliant writer on great English Catholics, has gone back in The Quest for Shakespeare to this greatest of English Catholics, showing precisely how his greatness consists in his hidden Catholicism. This is a book that bodes well to proving a literary masterpiece.'
-- Peter Milward, S.J. Author, Shakespeare the Papist
'Pearce writes with historical insight on one hand and poetic imagination on the other. Perhaps our greatest living biographer, Pearce has the uncanny ability to get into the minds, hopes, fears, and motivations of his subjects.'
-- Bradley J. Birzer, Ph.D. Author, J. R. R. Tolkien's Sanctifying Myth
'Practicing the best virtues of detective, lawyer, scholar, and storyteller, Joseph Pearce convincingly reconstructs the historical crucible which produced the world's greatest poet. His explication of how Shakespeare was shaped by realities of personal courage, political danger, and eternal sacramental love will unshutter long obscured lamps within the plays and poems for every reader.'
-- Gene Fendt, Ph.D., University of Nebraska, Author, Is Hamlet a Christian Drama?
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Rated by buyers 
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Joseph Pearrce has written an excellent, well researched work that clearly establishes Shakespeare's deep links to the Catholic Underground in Elizabethan/Jacobite England. Some reviewers have quibbled, however, that Pearce's case cannot positively establish that Will Shakespeare remained a Catholic in belief. Perhaps, but that says more about the silencing power of Elizabeth's reign of terror than it does about Will Shakespeare.
For example, "Bostonian Reader" writes:
"as a matter truth, we must admit that the case is one of plausibility and probability, with an enormous number of unanswered -- and probably unanswerable -- questions. Even admitting that Shakespeare was raised a Catholic (almost certain) and was persistently interested in traditional religious images and theological questions, we have no way of knowing what he personally believed -- the plays do not contain an explicit statement of faith. "
Had a Shakespeare play contained an explicit statement of faith, the censor would have prohibited the performance and Will would have been rounded up by Walsingham's Gestapo, or at a minimum the pursuivants would have spied on him and nailed him (and everyone associated with him) for recusancy or more. Yet in the end, "Bostonian" is right in a sense. Elizabeth's effort to suppress the Catholic Religion was so vicious that the greatest writer in England's sorry history had to keep his mouth shut on his own beliefs.
What Pearce unquestionably has accomplished, though, is equally valuable. First, he has laid out the deep connections Will had to the faithful remnant of the Catholic Church that remained in England during his life. Second, Pearce has laid out the reality of Elizabeth's Reign of Terror in such excruciating detail that we can well understand why Shakespeare did what he did:
Why he left his property to the daughter who remained true to the Catholic Faith instead of to the one who had bent to the will of the all powerful English state.
Why he never bought a house in London during his days there (because if he had, his "Anglican pastor" would have reported him so he could be punished for non-attendance at the Queen's church).
Why he bought a house in London after he left London to retire in Stratford on Avon (because he wished to preserve the best Mass-House available in London for the secret offering of the Catholic Mass).
Why the greatest writer in Elizabethan England never shed a tear or wrote anything in Elizabeth's favor when she died. The English Monarchy has tried so hard to establish the "Glory" of her Reign (by promoting use of the "Gloriana" name for her etc.), yet its greatest writer essentially dissed her!!
In the end, Pearce's case is far more convincing than the quibbles of those who dispute it. We should not impose 21st Century American expectations on a person living in Elizabeth and James's 16-17th Century Police State. Shakespeare couldn't write about his beliefs explicitly because practice of the Catholic Religion in England was absolutely forbidden from the time Elizabeth took the Throne until 1829.
Rated by buyers 
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A very serious look at the subject; and once the evidence is examined in the light of the times in which they occurred, then I concur!
Rated by buyers -
I am very pleased to thank the Author for this book, that has got me to know the true Shakespeare. It's a wonderful book, very charming and convincing in its quest for the facts or the various degrees of plausible possibilities about the facts concerning the life and the character of the great Playwright. What I liked in particular was the clear and frank dismantling of the pretentious theories of so many scholars who pretend to dress the Poet with `their' personal mental habits...Again thanks, and I'm going to read these marvellous plays with a new and deeper awareness.
Rated by buyers -
Joseph Pearce shows us convincingly the overwhelming evidence that Shakespeare was Catholic in a very objective manner, distinguishing always between facts that have proof to back them up and speculations that have only circumstantial evidence. This book is easy to read and imperative to understand Shakespeare and the times he lived in. Unfortunately, Pearce spends only one chapter (really an appendix) demonstrating how the knowledge of Shakespeare's Catholicity should affect our reading of his works, and the work he chooses is King Lear, not exactly one of the most famous of Shakespeare's plays. I wish he had chosen Hamlet or Macbeth. I hope that in the future, Pearce will do an in-depth study of more of Shakespeare's plays and sonnets.
Rated by buyers 
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Joseph Pearce is a prominent biographer cum Catholic apologist, and of course he presents the case for Shakespeare as a Catholic. Is Pearce's presentation of this a "slam dunk", as another reviewer puts it? By no means. There has been a great deal of recent scholarship, some judicious and reliable and some wildly speculative, without admitting such.
Now, I am sympathetic to the Catholic case. But as a matter truth, we must admit that the case is one of plausibility and probability, with an enormous number of unanswered -- and probably unanswerable -- questions. Even admitting that Shakespeare was raised a Catholic (almost certain) and was persistently interested in traditional religious images and theological questions, we have no way of knowing what he personally believed -- the plays do not contain an explicit statement of faith. For judicious and critical but sympathetic reviews of the issues, I recommend two reviews from the journal, First Things:
http://www.firstthings.com/article.php3?id_article=5374
http://www.firstthings.com/article.php3?id_article=6202
If you want a biography that will inspire your Catholic faith and sensibilities, by all means read Pearce. And feel free to substitute five stars for my two. (Even at that I would allow only four stars because I find Pearce a rather superficial and tedious writer.)
If you want a fairer reading of the evidence, sympathetic without overstatement to the the Catholic case, start with the two articles mentioned or reading Michael Woods' outstanding book, "Shakespeare" (the DVD of the PBS series called "In Search of Shakespeare" is fabulous). Michael Woods' book has the further advantage of have a really good annotated bibliography--he even sites the opposition literature.
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