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Michelle Lee introduces the reader to recent critics of Hamlet and what historical influences those critics believe guided Shakespeare in his writing. Among many, she references critics who read Hamlet maintaing it is guided by the Renaissance idea of skepticism to critics who have more religious readings of the play.

A good starting point for historical and cultural contexts for Renaissance literature

This is a German review of a new biography, published by the renowened Insel publishing house in Frankfurt. The author of the review is a professor for english renaissance literature at Munich university. He critizises this book which in his opinion lacks any historical evidence. The biography tries to prove once more the hypothesis that William Shakespeare was in fact Edward de Vere, Earl of Oxford. The author of the review calls it a "history of literature written for the 'Dan Brown Generation'": In his view it presents a highly romantic, but basically wrong reconstruction of William Shakespeare's life and works. He believes that this book must be part of a marketing strategy. This strategy aims to attract a crowd of uninformed readers who willingly rely on 'conspiracy theories'. Cp. Werner von Koopenfels, Rev. of: Kurt Kreiler, Der Mann, der Shakespeare erfand. Edward de Vere, Earl of Oxford.-Insel-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2009. For another Review of "this exciting new biography", also in German, see: http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-67768129.html