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Shakespeare, Sex, and Love 1st Edition

by Stanley Wells (Author)
4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 19 ratings
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Praised as "eloquent, humane, and balanced" (Times Literary Supplement) and "deeply versed in the period, urbane and unflappable in tone, and refreshingly free of ideological agendas" (Financial Times), here is a lively look at Shakespeare's treatment of sexuality in his plays and poems, written by the one of the pre-eminent authorities on the Bard and his work. Renowned Shakespeare critic Stanley Wells draws on historical and anecdotal sources to present an illuminating account of sexual behavior--and its consequences--in Shakespeare's time, particularly in Stratford-upon-Avon and London. Wells thoroughly explores this milieu, demonstrating what we know or can deduce about the sexual conventions, sexual mores, and actual sexual behaviors of the day. Wells also explores the ways in which Shakespeare treats sexuality in his plays and how he relates sexuality to love. He covers everything from the fun that Shakespeare gets out of sex in his comedies, to the ways he relates sexual desire to both lust and love, to the play where Shakespeare focused most centrally on issues relating to sex, love, and the relationship between them: Romeo and Juliet.
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  1. ISBN-10
    0199643970
  2. ISBN-13
    978-0199643974
  3. Edition
    1st
  4. Publisher
    Oxford University Press
  5. Publication date
    July 5, 2012
  6. Language
    English
  7. Dimensions
    8.1 x 1 x 5 inches
  8. Print length
    304 pages
  9. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"This eloquent, humane and balanced book wears its erudition lightly. In doing so it rescues its subject from the overbearing weight of cultural, political and theoretical baggage with which it has often been loaded in the past few decades." --Rob Maslen, TLS 09/09/2010 "Well's subtly and systematically illuminates Shakespeare's acknowledgement of the glory and horror of what it is to be fully human." --Simon Callow, The Guardian 24.04.10 "Concise and elegantly written book." --Simon Callow, The Guardian 24.04.10 Advance Praise: "From bawdy and bed-tricks to same-sex love and the pangs of sexual jealousy, Shakespeare, Sex, and Love offers a magisterial account - by the leading Shakespeare authority of our day - of the subject at the very heart of the plays and poems. Its also a terrific read." James Shapiro, author of 1599"This eloquent, humane and balanced book wears its erudition lightly." --ITimes Literary Supplement 10/09/2010 "He treads a precise and delicate path through Shakespeare's works" --Rob Maslen,TLS 09/09/2010 "Well-paced and informative book." --John Stubbs, Literary Review 01/05/2010 "[He] captures a great deal of the diversity and freshness of Shakespeare's writing." --John Stubbs, Literary Review 01.05.10 "He is an expert and highly readable guide to the highways and byways of Shakespearean sexuality." --Charles Nicholl, Financial Times 08/05/2010 "This is not a long book, but it draws on Well's decades of close-focus research as a Shakespeare scholar and editor." --Charles Nicholl, Financial Times 08/05/2010 "Deeply versed in the period, urbane and unflappable in tone, refreshingly free of ideological agendas." --Charles Nicholl, Financial Times 08/05/2010 "Wells is an expert modern guide in terms of literary criticism and biography." --The Times 24/04/2010

Book Description

A lively exploration of sex and love--and the relationship between them--in Shakespeare's poems and plays, by pre-eminent Shakespeare critic Stanley Wells

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Oxford University Press; 1st edition (July 5, 2012)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 304 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0199643970
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0199643974
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.31 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 8.1 x 1 x 5 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 19 ratings

About the author

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Stanley W. Wells

Stanley W. Wells

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Stanley Wells, described by Roy Hattersley as "Our greatest authority on Shakespeare's life and work," is Chairman of the Trustees of Shakespeare's Birthplace, Emeritus Professor of Shakespeare Studies of the University of Birmingham, and Honorary Emeritus Governor of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. He is the author and editor of many books including The Oxford Shakespeare: The Complete Works, 2nd Edition (OUP 2005); The Oxford Dictionary of Shakespeare (OUP, 2003); and Shakespeare in the Theatre (OUP, 1997).

Photo by Shakespeare Birthplace Trust [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.

Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars
4.2 out of 5
19 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Bob
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book; bad editing
Reviewed in the United States on June 17, 2010
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When I began studying Shakespeare, many of the sex jokes were glossed as "bawdy quibble," with no further explanation. These days it is possible to talk about sex in any context. Stanley Wells explains the jokes in straightforward English, neither titillating nor salacious.

But although his writing is candid and easy-going, some of the meanings of the poetry are startling. He explains, for instance, that one of the meanings of Sonnet 135 is that if the woman to whom it is addressed agrees to the poet's demands "she will increase her sexual appetite (and, however improbably, `enlarge her vagina' by enclosing his penis in it along with all the others)." These are not the imaginings of a lunatic professor, as you might imagine without having read the book, but a down-to-earth interpretation by someone who knows Elizabethan English as well as anyone in the world.

The book not only explains the meanings of the bawdy lines. It discusses sex and love of all kinds in Shakespeare, as the table of contents suggests: Sexuality in Shakespeare's Time, Shakespeare and Sex (the playwright's personal life), The Fun of Sex, Sexual Desire, Sex and Love, Sexual Jealously, Sex and Experience, Whores and Saints and "Just Good Friends."

Every year I read one or two books about Shakespeare. This is one of the best ever. But the editing, at least for the Kindle and iPod versions, is atrocious. Many words are run together, others are hyphenated in impossible ways. Shakespeare's texts were apparently clipped out as images rather than texts, and pasted together so that, for instance, you get part of a sonnet in one font, a few blank lines, and the rest of the sonnet in another font. The iPod version is left- and right-justified without proportional spacing, making it impossible to read.

But don't let the bad editing deter you. Perhaps the paper edition is edited correctly. The Kindle edition is readable, despite the bad typesetting. This book is a masterpiece of scholarship.
17 people found this helpful
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Paul Patenaude
5.0 out of 5 stars A must read
Reviewed in the United States on August 5, 2010
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Professor Wells always produces an excellent product. I have been teaching Shakespeare since 1968 and always have wished that his body of work had been published then.
I always discover insights into the Shakespeare Cannon with Stanley pointing the way. The chapter on Romeo and Juliet was particularly enlightening. I'll be using some of his wisdom in the course-Shakespeare's Strong Women-Weaker Men, that I'll be teaching (Worcester Institute for Senior Education) this fall. Shakespeare and Stanley know the heart of women.
2 people found this helpful
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Steve McEnpants
4.0 out of 5 stars Shocked
Reviewed in the United States on March 13, 2011
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I didn't know about Shakespeare before I picked this up at a truck stop on the I-70 right outside of Omaha
but after finishing I immediately went and read A few plays by 'William Shakespeare' and they are
awesome. You can probably do without this book, read the plays. But if you haven't read the plays
the book is something else.
6 people found this helpful
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Rebecca A Mahmood
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on December 9, 2014
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Excellent!
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B. Wilfong
4.0 out of 5 stars "The plays read us, just as we read them."
Reviewed in the United States on August 28, 2015
“Shakespeare, Sex, and Love” is a good addition to the library of books on Shakespeare and his works. Written in an academic, yet easy to read, style the book is laid out in an almost textbook fashion. Stanley Wells arranges the text in two parts, the first dealing with Shakespeare’s “Life and Times” and the second focusing on “Plays and Poems”. The division in the text works nicely. Kudos also goes to Mr. Wells for constantly reminding the reader that his interpretations are at best conjecture. We can never know for sure what Shakespeare was thinking or intending. Too many scholars have forgotten that!
Mr. Wells breaks Part II of the text into six subcategories and fits most of the plays and poems into one of them. His explanations are intriguing and thought provoking. He is also very zealous about pointing out that much of what people put on/into Shakespeare is from their perspective. All we have is the text, not Shakespeare’s mind.
Personal highlights for me included his examination of the contrasting views of love and sex between the Bard’s “Love’s Labor’s Lost” and “As You Like It”. They were fascinating and helped illuminate both plays for me. I also found chapter 4 (The Fun of Sex) and chapter 10 (Just Good Friends?) and Wells’ analysis of the plays he puts into those categories to be absorbing reading.
“Shakespeare, Sex, and Love” is not an introductory text on Shakespeare, but rather a readable academic examination for those familiar with Shakespeare’s body of work. I think the book would be even more interesting to those who see a lot of Shakespeare in performance, as it deal with various interpretations of scenes and characters, prone to be interesting to those who see the plays performed regularly.
All in all, an engaging text. I enjoyed it.
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Mr HW
1.0 out of 5 stars One Star
Reviewed in the United States on April 20, 2015
Embarrassing.
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Jean E. Pouliot
4.0 out of 5 stars Saucy times
Reviewed in the United States on December 31, 2013
This fine book is aimed at those adept with Shakespeare's works, but is nonetheless enjoyable by those with a more passing love of his oeuvre. Stanley Wells tries to steer a course between those who seek to airbrush the sexuality from Will's works, and those who see a sexual pun or reference in every other word. While Wills scolds those on both extremes, ultimately he seems more at home with those who can tease out of a layer of naughtiness from just about any verse. Wells gets into some deep territory, exploring whether Shakespeare was a homosexual or a bisexual. The Dark Lady in the sonnets comes in for a great deal of very abstruse commentary. By examining 16th century court cases, Wells shows the London in the 1500s to be a pretty sexy place. There are prostitutes, sodomy and scandal aplenty. But how much of this splashes onto Will's own pantaloons is hard to gauge.

I don’t have the expertise to determine whether Wells's work is definitive, but it did open my eyes to the complexity of gauging a man's personality via his fictional writing.
2 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

RAH
4.0 out of 5 stars Deep Wells of Shakespeare criticism
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 17, 2010
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Stanley Wells never disappoints, such is his expertise on Shakespeare and on the work of his fellow Shakespeare scholars. I have some reservations about this one, in that it finds sexual puns a little too frequently to be altogether convincing; but there is a great deal to think about here, and dipping into deep Wells always brings up some marvellous fresh ideas. Keep your Complete Works at hand as you read, so that you can immediately see the (numerous) quotations in context. Well(s) worth the money.
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