Shakespeare's Borrowed Feathers: How Early Modern Playwrights Shaped the World's Greatest Writer

(Hardback)

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A fascinating book exploring the early modern authors who helped to shape Shakespeares beloved plays.

Shakespeares plays have influenced generations of writers, but who were the early modern playwrights who influenced him Shakespeare's borrowed feathers offers a fresh look at William Shakespeare and the community of playwrights that shaped his work. This compelling book argues that we need to see early modern drama as a communal enterprise, with playwrights borrowing from and adapting one another's work.

From John Lyly's wit to the collaborative genius of John Fletcher, to Christopher Marlowe and Ben Jonson, Shakespeare's borrowed feathers offers fresh insights into Shakespeares artistic development and shows us new ways of looking at the masterpieces that have enchanted audiences for centuries.

Reviews

Darren Freebury-Jones attempts the impossible and pulls off the necessary. Both summative and innovative, this book accounts for where Shakespeare attribution studies are today while showing us where they are going tomorrow. It turns out that Shakespeare feathered his nest with borrowed plumes and, in so doing, became a full-fledged playwright.
Paul Menzer, author of Shakespeare without Print

Author Bio

Darren Freebury-Jones is a Lecturer in Shakespeare Studies at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. He is the author of Shakespeare's Tutor: The Influence of Thomas Kyd (2022) and has contributed to the Independent, the Guardian, the Times, the Telegraph and BBC Radio.