Clare Asquith studied English at Oxford where she got a congratulatory First. She worked in publishing, teaching and journalism before travelling abroad with her husband, who was posted to the British Embassy in Moscow in the 1980s and in Kiev in the 1990s. In 2000, struck by the similarities between censorship under communism and under the repressive regimes of Shakespeare's England, she published an article in the Times Literary Supplement on Shakespeare's poem, "The Phoenix and the Turtle." Since then, she has written further essays on Shakespeare and Catholicism for various scholarly books and journals.
Her book on Shakespeare, Shadowplay: The Hidden Beliefs and Coded Politics of William Shakespeare, was published in 2005. Saint Thomas More scholar John Guy asserted that “Even if only half of Clare Asquith’s argument turns out to be correct, she’s written the most visceral, challenging, compelling book on Shakespeare’s place in history we’ve had for twenty years.” She lives in the West of England with her husband and five children.
Ms. Asquith’s lecture will take place on October 9, 2007 at 8:00 in Room 155 of DeBartolo Hall.
