AfascinatingaccountofhowShakespeare’sworkswereunderstoodandvaluedbyreadersandwritersfromtheseventeenthtothenineteenthcentury,beforeShakespeare’sbiographycametodominatereadingsofhisplaysandpoetry.Foralmosttwocenturiesafterhisdeath,Shakespearehadnobiography.Themakingsofonewerenotavailable.Nochronologyhadbeendevisedbywhichtocoordinatetheeventsinhislifewiththewritingofhisworks.Norwasthereanarchiveofprimarymaterialsonwhichtobasealife.AndtheonlyworkbyShakespearewritteninthefirstperson,theSonnets,hadyettobecriticallyeditedandincorporatedintothecanon.Withoutabiography,howcouldShakespearehavebeenvaluedandunderstood?InShakespearewithoutaLife,MargretadeGrazialooksataspectsofShakespeare’sreceptionbetween1600and1800thathavebeenallbutlosttothenowstillprevailingbiographicalimpulse.Itrecoverstheanecdoteasaformofliterarycriticism,retrievestheancientcategoryofgenreasthecanon’sorganizingrubric,demonstrateshowthequestforauthenticdocumentsinvalidatedotherformsofliteraryrecord,andrevealshowthedesiretoforgeconnectionsbetweenShakespeare’slifeandtheSonnetsoccludedhisself-presentationasthe’deceas癡dI’ofaposthumouspoet.
