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| Katherine Duncan-Jones, Who Cast Shakespeare as a Boor, Dies at 81 | Katherine Duncan-Jones, Who Cast Shakespeare as a Boor, Dies at 81 |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| Katherine Duncan-Jones, a scholar of English literature who challenged cherished orthodoxies, most evidently in her book “Ungentle Shakespeare: Scenes from a Life,” in which she cast the playwright as a misogynist, skinflint and social climber, died on Oct. 16 in Cambridge, England. She was 81. | |
| Her daughter Emily Wilson said the cause was complications of dementia. | Her daughter Emily Wilson said the cause was complications of dementia. |
| Until Ms. Duncan-Jones published “Ungentle Shakespeare” in 2001, the Bard of Avon had enjoyed an unblemished image as likable, generous and even, thanks to the 1998 film “Shakespeare in Love,” smolderingly sexual. | Until Ms. Duncan-Jones published “Ungentle Shakespeare” in 2001, the Bard of Avon had enjoyed an unblemished image as likable, generous and even, thanks to the 1998 film “Shakespeare in Love,” smolderingly sexual. |
| Drawing on decades spent combing through Oxford’s Bodleian Library and other collections, Ms. Duncan-Jones gave the world someone disquietingly different. Her Shakespeare was a thin-skinned scrooge, misogynist and unabashed social climber — “a rather unlikable man,” she wrote, “a money-minded fellow who dealt eagerly and profitably in real-estate, and lent money to people at high rates of interest.” | Drawing on decades spent combing through Oxford’s Bodleian Library and other collections, Ms. Duncan-Jones gave the world someone disquietingly different. Her Shakespeare was a thin-skinned scrooge, misogynist and unabashed social climber — “a rather unlikable man,” she wrote, “a money-minded fellow who dealt eagerly and profitably in real-estate, and lent money to people at high rates of interest.” |
| Her title held a double meaning. Shakespeare was “ungentle,” as in boorish, but also not of the gentlemanly class, despite his eagerness to rise in Elizabethan society. Born into unremarkable means in the English Midlands, he bought his family’s coat of arms — with the motto “Non Sans Droit,” or “Not Without Right” — from a dealer who proved disreputable. | Her title held a double meaning. Shakespeare was “ungentle,” as in boorish, but also not of the gentlemanly class, despite his eagerness to rise in Elizabethan society. Born into unremarkable means in the English Midlands, he bought his family’s coat of arms — with the motto “Non Sans Droit,” or “Not Without Right” — from a dealer who proved disreputable. |
| His contemporary and rival Ben Jonson skewered Shakespeare in his comic play “Every Man Out of His Humor,” which depicted a country bumpkin clown trying to make it in London; he too buys a coat of arms, with the motto “Not Without Mustard.” | His contemporary and rival Ben Jonson skewered Shakespeare in his comic play “Every Man Out of His Humor,” which depicted a country bumpkin clown trying to make it in London; he too buys a coat of arms, with the motto “Not Without Mustard.” |
| Ms. Duncan-Jones argued that Shakespeare’s sexuality likely leaned toward men. In her book she offered thorough readings of several sonnets to support previous claims that one frequent object of affection was William Herbert, the 3rd Earl of Pembroke and one of Shakespeare’s patrons. | Ms. Duncan-Jones argued that Shakespeare’s sexuality likely leaned toward men. In her book she offered thorough readings of several sonnets to support previous claims that one frequent object of affection was William Herbert, the 3rd Earl of Pembroke and one of Shakespeare’s patrons. |
| By the end of his life, her Shakespeare was bald, bloated and bitter. He dodged his taxes, sued for even the smallest debts and failed to pay parish dues that would go to the sick and indigent. In his will, he left more money to his lawyer than to the poor — at the time, most men of means bequeathed a significant amount to charity — and famously left his much-abused wife, Anne Hathaway, his “second-best bed,” which Ms. Duncan-Jones, unlike some scholars, interpreted as a snub. | By the end of his life, her Shakespeare was bald, bloated and bitter. He dodged his taxes, sued for even the smallest debts and failed to pay parish dues that would go to the sick and indigent. In his will, he left more money to his lawyer than to the poor — at the time, most men of means bequeathed a significant amount to charity — and famously left his much-abused wife, Anne Hathaway, his “second-best bed,” which Ms. Duncan-Jones, unlike some scholars, interpreted as a snub. |
| Though she was fully aware of the potential controversy of her charges, she never intended for her book to be the hatchet job that many reviewers believed it to be. Most of them praised it nevertheless. | Though she was fully aware of the potential controversy of her charges, she never intended for her book to be the hatchet job that many reviewers believed it to be. Most of them praised it nevertheless. |
| “Katherine Duncan-Jones has written an uncommonly good book,” the author Allan Massie wrote in The Spectator in 2001. “There are riches on every page. When she resorts to speculation, as anyone writing on Shakespeare must, she does so confessedly.” | “Katherine Duncan-Jones has written an uncommonly good book,” the author Allan Massie wrote in The Spectator in 2001. “There are riches on every page. When she resorts to speculation, as anyone writing on Shakespeare must, she does so confessedly.” |
| Part of the book’s riches lay in her layered description of 16th- and 17th-century England. Marked by a strict social hierarchy but also by a fair degree of mobility, it was the sort of world that rewarded the mean and sharply elbowed. | Part of the book’s riches lay in her layered description of 16th- and 17th-century England. Marked by a strict social hierarchy but also by a fair degree of mobility, it was the sort of world that rewarded the mean and sharply elbowed. |
| “I don’t believe,” she wrote, “that any Elizabethans, even Shakespeare, were what might now be called ‘nice’ — liberal, unprejudiced, unselfish.” | “I don’t believe,” she wrote, “that any Elizabethans, even Shakespeare, were what might now be called ‘nice’ — liberal, unprejudiced, unselfish.” |
| As to whether any of this mattered to Shakespeare’s plays themselves, Ms. Duncan-Jones was less definitive. She believed that he wrote some of his minor characters in ways that subtly teased his detractors, including Jonson. | As to whether any of this mattered to Shakespeare’s plays themselves, Ms. Duncan-Jones was less definitive. She believed that he wrote some of his minor characters in ways that subtly teased his detractors, including Jonson. |
| And she believed that the comically self-important Malvolio, in “Twelfth Night,” was a mocking reference to Shakespeare himself. His embarrassingly cross-gartered yellow stockings, she wrote, were a reference to his own coat of arms. | And she believed that the comically self-important Malvolio, in “Twelfth Night,” was a mocking reference to Shakespeare himself. His embarrassingly cross-gartered yellow stockings, she wrote, were a reference to his own coat of arms. |
| Katherine Dorothea Duncan-Jones was born on May 13, 1941, in Birmingham, England. She came from a family of scholars: Her father, Austin Duncan-Jones, was a philosopher at the University of Birmingham, where her mother, Elsie (Phare) Duncan-Jones, taught literature. | Katherine Dorothea Duncan-Jones was born on May 13, 1941, in Birmingham, England. She came from a family of scholars: Her father, Austin Duncan-Jones, was a philosopher at the University of Birmingham, where her mother, Elsie (Phare) Duncan-Jones, taught literature. |
| The erudition continued through the generations. Her brother, Richard, is a historian of ancient Rome; her daughter Emily Wilson is a classicist known for her translation of Homer’s “The Odyssey”; and her other daughter, Bee Wilson, is a food writer with a Ph.D. in history. She is also survived by six grandchildren. | The erudition continued through the generations. Her brother, Richard, is a historian of ancient Rome; her daughter Emily Wilson is a classicist known for her translation of Homer’s “The Odyssey”; and her other daughter, Bee Wilson, is a food writer with a Ph.D. in history. She is also survived by six grandchildren. |
| Katherine’s home life was predictably bookish. She knew early on that she wanted to study literature, and though her academic focus on Shakespeare came relatively late in her career, the Bard was her first literary love, which she developed over repeated trips to see the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon. | Katherine’s home life was predictably bookish. She knew early on that she wanted to study literature, and though her academic focus on Shakespeare came relatively late in her career, the Bard was her first literary love, which she developed over repeated trips to see the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon. |
| She studied literature at St. Hilda’s College, Oxford, receiving bachelor’s degrees in the arts and in letters in 1963. | She studied literature at St. Hilda’s College, Oxford, receiving bachelor’s degrees in the arts and in letters in 1963. |
| That fall she became a tutorial fellow at Somerville College, Oxford, where she remained for her entire career, save for 1965-66, when she was a fellow at New Hall (now Murray Edwards College), Cambridge University. She was named a professor at Oxford in 1998 and retired in 2001. | That fall she became a tutorial fellow at Somerville College, Oxford, where she remained for her entire career, save for 1965-66, when she was a fellow at New Hall (now Murray Edwards College), Cambridge University. She was named a professor at Oxford in 1998 and retired in 2001. |
| Her students from the 1960s almost uniformly recall Ms. Duncan-Jones as the picture of otherworldly Bohemian elegance, a figure pulled from a Pre-Raphaelite painting. Some were intimidated, but those who got to know her discovered that she was in fact the very model of an Oxford don: droll, hilarious and unbelievably erudite, thanks to her near constant residency in the university archives. | Her students from the 1960s almost uniformly recall Ms. Duncan-Jones as the picture of otherworldly Bohemian elegance, a figure pulled from a Pre-Raphaelite painting. Some were intimidated, but those who got to know her discovered that she was in fact the very model of an Oxford don: droll, hilarious and unbelievably erudite, thanks to her near constant residency in the university archives. |
| The journalist and author A.N. Wilson, whom she married in 1971, recalled a friend telling him that “Katherine Duncan-Jones can never be happy if she is further than a mile from the Bodleian Library.” | The journalist and author A.N. Wilson, whom she married in 1971, recalled a friend telling him that “Katherine Duncan-Jones can never be happy if she is further than a mile from the Bodleian Library.” |
| Ms. Duncan-Jones was one of Mr. Wilson’s former tutors, and was 10 years his senior when they married in 1971; they divorced in 1990, but they later reconciled, and as she slipped into dementia he took to visiting her regularly. | Ms. Duncan-Jones was one of Mr. Wilson’s former tutors, and was 10 years his senior when they married in 1971; they divorced in 1990, but they later reconciled, and as she slipped into dementia he took to visiting her regularly. |
| She had made her name among academics as an expert on the poet and courtier Sir Philip Sidney, editing a collection of his major works and writing a definitive biography that depicted a man of great promise descending into self-indulgence as he rose in the court of Queen Elizabeth. | She had made her name among academics as an expert on the poet and courtier Sir Philip Sidney, editing a collection of his major works and writing a definitive biography that depicted a man of great promise descending into self-indulgence as he rose in the court of Queen Elizabeth. |
| She turned to Shakespeare in the 1990s, editing a book of his sonnets that two previous editors had failed to complete. In 2011 she wrote “Shakespeare: Upstart Crow to Sweet Swan: 1592-1623,” a sequel of sorts to “Ungentle Shakespeare”; the new book tracked the way that Shakespeare the man, in all his faults, was posthumously elevated to near-godly status by critics, performers and audiences. | She turned to Shakespeare in the 1990s, editing a book of his sonnets that two previous editors had failed to complete. In 2011 she wrote “Shakespeare: Upstart Crow to Sweet Swan: 1592-1623,” a sequel of sorts to “Ungentle Shakespeare”; the new book tracked the way that Shakespeare the man, in all his faults, was posthumously elevated to near-godly status by critics, performers and audiences. |
| “Standards for literary biography were set in Victorian time, a time when they wanted writers to set a moral example for public school educated young men,” Ms. Duncan-Jones told The Coventry Evening Telegram in 2001. “It’s surprises me how long this tradition has continued for Shakespeare when so many other writers have been knocked off their moral perches.” | “Standards for literary biography were set in Victorian time, a time when they wanted writers to set a moral example for public school educated young men,” Ms. Duncan-Jones told The Coventry Evening Telegram in 2001. “It’s surprises me how long this tradition has continued for Shakespeare when so many other writers have been knocked off their moral perches.” |