Rosalind: A Biography of Shakespeare's Immortal Heroine

(Paperback)

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The critically acclaimed biography of Shakespeare's most enduring heroine, Rosalind, now in paperback. Into the spotlight steps Rosalind, the actor-manager of As You Like It. Shes alive. Shes modern. Shes also a fiction. Played by a boy actor in 1599, shes a girl who gets into mens clothes to investigate the truth about love. Both male and female, imaginary and real, her intriguing duality gives her a special role. What is a man What is a woman We are all Rosalind now. This book is for everyone who has ever loved Shakespeare. Like Rosalind, his most innovative heroine, he can never die. She too is timeless. There is no clock in the Forest of Arden where Rosalind finds herself and applies her mercurial wit to teach her lover, Orlando, how to become her perfect partner, issues which consume men and women today. This highly original biography of Rosalind contains exclusive new interviews with Juliet Rylance, Sally Scott, Janet Suzman, Juliet Stevenson, Michelle Terry, award-winning director Blanche McIntyre, as well as insights from Michael Attenborough, Kenneth Branagh, Greg Doran, Rebecca Hall, Adrian Lester, Pippa Nixon, Vanessa Redgrave and Fiona Shaw. Angela Thirlwell explores the fictitious life and the many after-lives of Rosalind, Shakespeares progressive new heroine, and her perennial influence on drama, fiction and art.

Author Bio

Angela Thirlwell likes to push the boundaries of biography. Thirlwell read English at St. Annes College, Oxford and lectured in English and Theatre Studies for many years for the Faculty of Continuing Education, Birkbeck College, University of London. Angela has given a wide range of talks on Ford Madox Brown, Ford Madox Ford, on art and on Biography at literary festivals, conferences, museums and galleries in England, France, Italy and the U.S.A. These include the Wallace Collection, the Walker Gallery in Liverpool, Manchester Art Gallery, the Fitzwilliam in Cambridge, the Oxford Literary Festival, the University Womens Club, Kings College London, Words by the Water in Keswick, Burgh House and Kenwood House in Hampstead, Hofstra University USA, and Kings Place in London for a Guardian Masterclass on biography. Shes been the external examiner for the highly regarded M.A. in Biography at the University of Buckingham. The course uses The Folio Anthology of Autobiography Thirlwell edited in 1994, ranging from ancient Egyptian tomb inscriptions to the modern day.