"Apart from the poems and plays themselves, the surviving traces of Shakespeare's life are abundant but thin ... property transactions, a marriage license ... christening records, cast lists [of plays] in which he is named as a performer, tax bills, petty legal affidavits, payments for services, and an interesting last will and testament, but no immediately obvious clues to unravel the great mystery of such immense creative power." Preface, p.12.

"The work is so astonishing, so luminous, that it seems to have come from a god and not a mortal, let alone a mortal of provincial origins and modest education." Preface, p. 13.

"At least as much as the books he read, the central problems he grappled with as a young man - what should I do with my life? In what can I have faith? Whom do I love? - served throughout his career to shape his art." Preface, p...