Tuesday January 15 2008 / Arts & Philosophy
Germaine Greer: Shakespeare's Wife
Little is known about the wife of the world's most famous playwright, but much is said about her. Ann Hathaway has been mocked and vilified by scholars for centuries. The glaring omission of her name from Shakespeare's will has been gleefully used by many as evidence that the marriage was a misstake from which Shakespeare did want to dissociate himself from.
Yet Shakespeare went on to become the very poet of marriage, exploring the sacrament in all its aspects, spiritual, psychological, sexual and sociological. He is the creator of the most tenacious and intelligent heroines in English literature. Is it possible, therefore, that Ann was the inspiration?
Shakespeare's Wife is fascinating in its reconstruction of Ann's life, and the daily lives of Elizabethan women. Germaine Greer offers an illuminating portrait of their working routines, the rituals of their courtship, and the minutiae of married life.
Germaine Greer will give a lecture about the making of her book. Afterwards she will discuss her work with Kristien Hemmerechts (Belgian writer, head teacher English literature Catholic University of Brussels).
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