Twelfth Night (The Unabridged Play) + The Classic Biography (Annotated)
Enriched Edition. The Life of William Shakespeare (Twelfth Night Or, What You Will)By William Shakespeare, Sidney Lee
Length16h 37m
About this audiobook
Bringing together the unabridged text of Twelfth Night with Sidney Lee's classic biographical study, this volume frames Shakespearean comedy within the life, culture, and theatrical world that helped shape it. The play's intricate interplay of disguise, desire, festive misrule, and social restoration is presented alongside a critical account that situates its artistry in the broader context of Elizabethan and Jacobean drama. Its lyricism, comic subplots, and probing reflections on identity make it one of the most enduring works of the early modern stage. The pairing of William Shakespeare and Sidney Lee offers readers both primary literary achievement and foundational literary scholarship. Shakespeare's dramatic imagination emerges through a comedy deeply connected to Renaissance performance traditions, gender fluidity on the public stage, and the humanist fascination with wit and self-fashioning. Lee, an influential biographer and Shakespearean scholar, represents the Victorian and early modern critical impulse to recover authorship, context, and cultural meaning. Recommended for students, scholars, and general readers alike, this volume provides a compact yet rich encounter with both text and interpretation. It invites close reading of a master comedy while encouraging reflection on biography, criticism, and literary legacy. As a combined edition, it fosters dialogue between imaginative drama and historical scholarship, making it an illuminating resource for understanding Shakespeare's enduring place in world literature.
This enriched edition has been carefully crafted to add value to your reading experience.
- An Introduction draws the threads together, discussing why these diverse authors and texts belong in one collection.
- Historical Context explores the cultural and intellectual currents that shaped these works, offering insight into the shared (or contrasting) eras that influenced each writer.
- A combined Synopsis (Selection) briefly outlines the key plots or arguments of the included pieces, helping readers grasp the anthology's overall scope without giving away essential twists.
- A collective Analysis highlights common themes, stylistic variations, and significant crossovers in tone and technique, tying together writers from different backgrounds.
- Reflection questions encourage readers to compare the different voices and perspectives within the collection, fostering a richer understanding of the overarching conversation.
Audiobook details
GenreLiterary Classics
Length16 hrs 37 mins
Narrated byListen with 1,000+ voices
FormateBook with Audio
Publish dateFeb 27, 2014
LanguageEnglish
Table of contents
1Introduction
20VII—THE SONNETS AND THEIR LITERARY HISTORY
2Introduction
21VIII—THE BORROWED CONCEITS OF THE SONNETS
3Historical Context
22IX—THE PATRONAGE OF THE EARL OF SOUTHAMPTON
4Synopsis (Selection)
23X—THE SUPPOSED STORY OF INTRIGUE IN THE SONNETS
5Twelfth Night (The Unabridged Play) + The Classic Biography: The Life of William Shakespeare
24XI—THE DEVELOPMENT OF DRAMATIC POWER
Show all chaptersShow less
6DRAMATIS PERSONAE
25XII—THE PRACTICAL AFFAIRS OF LIFE
7ACT I.
26XIII—MATURITY OF GENIUS
8ACT II.
27XIV—THE HIGHEST THEMES OF TRAGEDY
9ACT III.
28XV—THE LATEST PLAYS
10ACT IV.
29XVI—THE CLOSE OF LIFE
11ACT V.
30XVII—SURVIVORS AND DESCENDANTS
12The Life of William Shakespeare
31XVIII—AUTOGRAPHS, PORTRAITS, AND MEMORIALS
13PREFACE
32XIX—BIBLIOGRAPHY
14I—PARENTAGE AND BIRTH
33XX—POSTHUMOUS REPUTATION
15II—CHILDHOOD, EDUCATION, AND MARRIAGE
34XXI—GENERAL ESTIMATE
16III—THE FAREWELL TO STRATFORD
35APPENDIX (pt. 1)
17IV—ON THE LONDON STAGE
36APPENDIX (pt. 2)
18V.—EARLY DRAMATIC EFFORTS
37Analysis
19VI—THE FIRST APPEAL TO THE READING PUBLIC
38Reflection
Mass für Mass / Measure For Measure - Zweisprachige Ausgabe (Deutsch-Englisch) / Bilingual edition (German-English) (Kommentiert)William Shakespeare7h 58m$1 · $0.00
Viel Lärm um Nichts / Much Ado About Nothing - Zweisprachige Ausgabe (Deutsch-Englisch) / Bilingual edition (German-English) (Kommentiert)William Shakespeare7h 40m$1 · $0.00
Die größten Klassiker der englischen Literatur: Dramen (Kommentiert)William Shakespeare, Oskar Wilde, Lord Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Christopher Marlowe67h 30m$1 · $0.00
Ende gut, alles gut / All's Well That Ends Well (Deutsch-Englisch) (Kommentiert)William Shakespeare7h 53m$1 · $0.00
William Shakespeare: Macbeth. A drama.William Shakespeare2h 58m$12 · $0.00
The Complete Tragedies of William Shakespeare (Annotated)William Shakespeare35h 8m$2 · $0.00
The Taming of the Shrew (The Unabridged Play) + The Classic Biography (Annotated)William Shakespeare17h 16m$2 · $0.00
The Comedy of Errors (The Unabridged Play) + The Classic Biography: The Life of William Shakespeare (Annotated)William Shakespeare16h 5m$2 · $0.00
The Complete Poetry & Sonnets of William Shakespeare: The Sonnets + Venus And Adonis + The Rape Of Lucrece + The Passionate Pilgrim + The Phoenix And The Turtle + A Lover's Complaint (Annotated)William Shakespeare8h 35m$3 · $0.00
Shakespeare's Henriad - Complete Tetralogy (Annotated)William Shakespeare, William Hazlitt14h 4m$2 · $0.00
Troilus and Cressida (The Unabridged Play) + The Classic Biography: The Life of William Shakespeare (Annotated)William Shakespeare17h 48m$2 · $0.00
Antony and Cleopatra (The Unabridged Play) + The Classic Biography (Annotated)William Shakespeare, Sidney Lee17h 38m$2 · $0.00
HamletWilliam Shakespeare4h 42m$8 · $0.00
Mesure pour mesureWilliam Shakespeare3h 15m$2 · $0.00
Jules CésarWilliam Shakespeare3h 25m$2 · $0.00
De Koopman van VenetiëWilliam Shakespeare5h 31m$1 · $0.00
La vie et la mort du roi Richard IIIWilliam Shakespeare4h 12m$2 · $0.00
Maaß für MaaßWilliam Shakespeare3h 10m$2 · $0.00
The TempestWilliam Shakespeare3h 24m$1 · $0.00
Sherlock Holmes: The Ultimate CollectionArthur Conan Doyle59h 49m$5 · $0.00
The Complete Works of Fyodor Dostoyevsky: Novels, Short Stories and Autobiographical WritingsFyodor Dostoyevsky270h 59m$2 · $0.00
The Bark Canoes and Skin Boats of North America (Annotated)Howard Irving Chapelle, Tappan Adney13h 10m$2 · $0.00
Charles Dickens: Complete Works (Annotated)Charles Dickens819h 4m$2 · $0.00
The Complete Novels of Jane Austen & Brontë Sisters (Annotated)Jane Austen, Charlotte Brontë, Emily Brontë, Anne Brontë204h 15m$2 · $0.00
The Complete Works: Charlotte, Emily, Anne, Patrick & Branwell BrontëCharlotte Brontë, Anne Brontë, Emily Brontë138h 12m$1 · $0.00
The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde (Annotated)Oscar Wilde126h 19m$2 · $0.00
L. M. Montgomery – Premium Collection: Novels, Short Stories, Poetry & MemoirsLucy Maud Montgomery155h 1m$2 · $0.00
MARK TWAIN: 12 Novels, 195 Short Stories, Autobiography, 10 Travel Books, 160+ Essays & Speeches (Illustrated)Mark Twain415h 9m5 (2)$2 · $0.00
The Complete Works of William ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare89h 26m$3.50 · $0.00
The Great Gatsby: Original 1925 Edition (An F. Scott Fitzgerald Classic NovelFrancis Scott Fitzgerald4h 45m$18 · $0.00
The Brontë Sisters: The Complete Novels (Unabridged) (Annotated)Charlotte Brontë, Emily Brontë, Anne Brontë120h 3m$2 · $0.00
All NovelsGeorge Orwell53h 48m$10 · $0.00
The Complete Works of TolstoyLeo Tolstoy412h 44m$1 · $0.00
The Complete Works of Louisa May Alcott (Annotated)Louisa May Alcott226h 24m$2 · $0.00
Sherlock Holmes series - completeArthur Conan54h 8m$3.50 · $0.00
The Fire Next TimeJames Baldwin2h 25m$15
The Count of Monte Cristo (With Original Illustrations)Alexandre Dumas54h$1 · $0.00
H. P. Lovecraft: The Complete Fiction (Annotated)H. P. Lovecraft50h 45m$2 · $0.00
The Complete Books of F. Scott Fitzgerald (all his 5 novels + all 4 short story collections published during his lifetime)F. Scott Fitzgerald87h 43m$1 · $0.00
You may also like
Between the Acts (Summarized Edition)Virginia Woolf2h 55m$2
Collected Plays of Anton Chekhov (Annotated)Anton Chekhov16h 28m$2 · $0.00
Mark Twain's Comedy Classics: 190+ Stories & Sketches (Illustrated Edition) (Annotated)Mark Twain113h 21m$2 · $0.00
THE LETTERS OF F. SCOTT FITZGERALD (Annotated)F. Scott Fitzgerald23h 8m$2 · $0.00
Late and Soon (NOVEL & 8 SHORT STORIES) (Annotated)E. M. Delafield13h 40m$2 · $0.00
The Complete Plays of Oscar Wilde (Annotated)Oscar Wilde25h 34m$2 · $0.00
Anton Chekhov: The Collected Novellas and Short Stories in Multiple Translations (Annotated)Anton Chekhov132h 15m$2 · $0.00
The Complete Short Stories of Mark Twain (Illustrated) (Annotated)Mark Twain113h 23m$2 · $0.00
The Poetry of Ezra Pound (Annotated)Ezra Pound2h 48m$2 · $0.00
George Du Maurier, the Satirist of the VictoriansT. Martin Wood3h 9m$2 · $0.00
Soldiers' Pay (Annotated)William Faulkner12h 10m$2 · $0.00
Between the ActsVirginia Woolf5h 11m$2 · $0.00
Sorrow in Sunlight (Annotated)Ronald Firbank3h 1m$2 · $0.00
Critical Miscellanies: MacaulayJohn Morley1h 8m$2 · $0.00
The Black Monk, and Other StoriesAnton Pavlovich Chekhov8h 25m$1 · $0.00
In Defense of WomenH. L. Mencken5h 52m$2 · $0.00
The VortexNoel Coward4h 10m$1 · $0.00
I Married the Icepick KillerCarol Muske-Dukes4h 53m$27 · $0.00
The Defence of Poesy (Annotated)Philip Sidney2h 51m$2 · $0.00
Shapes of ClayAmbrose Bierce5h 8m$2 · $0.00