Straight Acting: The Many Queer Lives of William Shakespeare

Straight Acting is a book that explores the queer culture of Shakespeare's time and how it influenced his work. It reveals a culture that both endorsed and suppressed same-sex desire and calls to recognize how queerness powerfully shaped the life and career of the world's most famous playwright.

Format: Hardback
Length: 304 pages
Publication date: 13 June 2024
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton

Brilliant - so vivid and so sharp, fantastically clever and consistently fascinating.

Katharine Rundell, author of Super-Infinite, said of Shakespeare's work, "Was Shakespeare gay? The answer is both simpler and more complex than you might think."

Shakespeare's work was profoundly influenced by the queer culture of his time, much of it totally integrated into mainstream society. From a relentless schooling in Latin and Greek homoeroticism, to a less formal education on the streets and in smoky taverns, from the gender-bending of the early comedies to the astonishingly queer literary scene that nurtured Shakespeare's sonnets, this is a story of artistic development and of personal crisis.

Straight Acting is a surprising portrait of Shakespeare's queer lives - his own and those in his plays and poems. It is a journey back in time and through Shakespeare's England, revealing a culture that both endorsed and suppressed same-sex desire. It is a call to stop making Shakespeare act straight and to recognise how queerness powerfully shaped the life and career of the world's most famous playwright.

Magisterial and saucy. This fresh account kickstarts the queer canon of English literature: Shakespeare won't go back in the closet again.

Emma Smith, author of This Is Shakespeare, said of Shakespeare's work, "Brilliant - so vivid and so sharp, fantastically clever and consistently fascinating."

Engrossing, enlightening and hugely entertaining.

Sarah Waters, author of Fingersmith, said of Shakespeare's work, "Straight Acting is a surprising portrait of Shakespeare's queer lives - his own and those in his plays and poems. It is a journey back in time and through Shakespeare's England, revealing a culture that both endorsed and suppressed same-sex desire. It is a call to stop making Shakespeare act straight and to recognise how queerness powerfully shaped the life and career of the world's most famous playwright."

Weight: 506g
Dimension: 163 x 243 x 30 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781529390476