Abstract: In contemporary Shakespeare biography, exemplars of sentimentality, adoration and iconoclasm, coupled with the incidences of exegetic interpretation and excessive imagination, are observed more often than not. The lack of historical records and documents about Shakespeare’s life and literary journey has stimulated the biographers to pursue, with their wings of imagination, miscellaneous explanations and predictions to fill gaps in their narratives. Some scholars propose that literary biography, as a hybrid or an amphibious art form, necessitates a rational blending of historical facts with literary narratives. However, how to mediate the tension between the two has always been a challenge for biographers, and it is a question that continues to attract more academic scholars.

Keywords: Shakespeare biography, sentimentality, iconoclasm, historic fact, literary narrative

Mu Baoqing, PhD, is Associate Professor in School of Foreign Languages and Literature at Shandong University. His research interests are English Literature and Western aesthetics. His recent publications include On Ernst Gombrich’s Aesthetic (2015) and “Zygmunt Bauman’s Utopianism” (The Social Scientist 11/2016). E-mail: mubaoqing@aliyun.com