Stalking Shakespeare : A Memoir of Madness, Murder, and My Search for the Poet Beneath the Paint

A darkly humorous and spellbinding real-life detective story that chronicles one Mississippi man’s relentless search for an authentic, accurate portrait of William Shakespeare. Following his divorce, down-and-out writer and Mississippi exile Lee Durkee holed himself up in a Vermont fishing shack and kicked off a decades-long obsession with Shakespearian portraiture. It began with a simple premise: no one has any idea what Shakespeare actually looked like. That he’s gotten progressively handsomer in modern depictions seems only to reinforce this point. Stalking Shakespeare is Lee’s fascinating memoir about an obsession gone awry, the 400-year-old myriad portraits attached to the famous playwright, and Lee’s own unrelenting search—via X-ray and infrared technologies—for a lost picture of the bard painted from real life. With each successive season, as Lee becomes better at coercing curators into testing their paintings with spectral technologies, we get a front-row seat to the mindboggling scandals plaguing the various portraits rumored to depict Shakespeare. Whisking us backwards in time through layers of paint and into the pages of obscure books on the Elizabethans, Lee takes us on his journey from Vermont to Tokyo and back to Vermont, to Mississippi, to DC, and ultimately to London to confront his unwitting adversaries: all those stuffy curators forever protecting the image of the Bard. For his part, Lee is the enemy they didn’t know they had—a writer from Mississippi with nothing to lose—the “Dan Brown of English portraiture.” A lively, bizarre, and surprisingly moving blend of history, art fraud, and madness, Stalking Shakespeare is a unique page-turner as entertaining as it is rigorous—that sheds new light on one of history’s greatest cultural and literary icons. •Winner of the 2024 Mississippi Institute of Arts & Letters Award for Life Writing• “A wickedly entertaining” (The New York Times) detective story that chronicles one Mississippi man's relentless search for an authentic portrait of William Shakespeare.Following his divorce, down-and-out writer and Mississippi exile Lee Durkee holed himself up in a Vermont fishing shack and fell prey to a decades-long obsession with Shakespearian portraiture. It began with a simple premise: despite the prevalence of popular portraits, no one really knows what Shakespeare looked like. That the Bard of Avon has gotten progressively handsomer in modern depictions seems only to reinforce this point. “Intensely readable...with bust-out laughing moments” (Garden & Gun), Stalking Shakespeare is Durkee's fascinating memoir about a hobby gone awry, the 400-year-old myriad portraits attached to the famous playwright, and Durkee's own unrelenting search for a lost picture of the Bard painted from real life. As Durkee becomes better at beguiling curators into testing their paintings with X-ray and infrared technologies, we get a front-row seat to the captivating mysteries—and unsolved murders—surrounding the various portraits rumored to depict Shakespeare. Whisking us backward in time through layers of paint and into the pages of obscure books on the Elizabethans, Durkee travels from Vermont to Tokyo to Mississippi to DC and ultimately to London to confront the stuffy curators forever protecting the Bard's image. For his part, Durkee is the adversary they didn't know they had—a self-described dilettante with nothing to lose, the “Dan Brown of Elizabethan portraiture.” A bizarre and surprisingly moving blend of biography, art history, and madness, Stalking Shakespeare is a “gripping, poignant, and enjoyable” (The Washington Post) journey that will forever change the way you look at one of history's greatest cultural and literary icons. "A wickedly entertaining" ( The New York Times ) detective story that chronicles one Mississippi man's relentless search for an authentic portrait of William Shakespeare. Following his divorce, down-and-out writer and Mississippi exile Lee Durkee holed himself up in a Vermont fishing shack and fell prey to a decades-long obsession with Shakespearian portraiture. It began with a simple premise: despite the prevalence of popular portraits, no one really knows what Shakespeare looked like. That the Bard of Avon has gotten progressively handsomer in modern depictions seems only to reinforce this point. "Intensely readable...with bust-out laughing moments" ( Garden & Gun ), Stalking Shakespeare is Durkee's fascinating memoir about a hobby gone awry, the 400-year-old myriad portraits attached to the famous playwright, and Durkee's own unrelenting search for a lost picture of the Bard painted from real life. As Durkee becomes better at beguiling curators into testing their paintings with X-ray and infrared technologies, we get a front-row seat to the captivating mysteries—and unsolved murders—surrounding the various portraits rumored to depict Shakespeare. Whisking us backward in time through layers of paint and into the pages of obscure books on the Elizabethans, Durkee travels from Vermont to Tokyo to Mississippi to DC and ultimately to London to confront the stuffy curators forever protecting the Bard's image. For his part, Durkee is the adversary they didn't know they had—a self-described dilettante with nothing to lose, the "Dan Brown of Elizabethan portraiture." A bizarre and surprisingly moving blend of biography, art history, and madness, Stalking Shakespeare is a "gripping, poignant, and enjoyable" ( The Washington Post ) journey that will forever change the way you look at one of history's greatest cultural and literary icons. A darkly humorous and spellbinding detective story that chronicles one Mississippi mans relentless search for an authentic portrait of William Shakespeare. Following his divorce, down-and-out writer and Mississippi exile Lee Durkee holed himself up in a Vermont fishing shack and fell prey to a decades-long obsession with Shakespearian portraiture. It began with a simple premise: despite the prevalence of popular portraits, no one really knows what Shakespeare looked like. That the Bard of Avon has gotten progressively handsomer in modern depictions seems only to reinforce this point. Stalking Shakespeare is Durkees fascinating memoir about a hobby gone awry, the 400-year-old myriad portraits attached to the famous playwright, and Durkees own unrelenting search for a lost picture of the Bard painted from real life. As Durkee becomes better at beguiling curators into testing their paintings with X-ray and infrared technologies, we get a front-row seat to the captivating mysteriesand unsolved murderssurrounding the various portraits rumored to depict Shakespeare. Whisking us backward in time through layers of paint and into the pages of obscure books on the Elizabethans, Durkee travels from Vermont to Tokyo to Mississippi to DC and ultimately to London to confront the stuffy curators forever protecting the Bards image. For his part, Durkee is the adversary they didnt know they hada self-described dilettante with nothing to lose, the Dan Brown of English portraiture. A lively, bizarre, and surprisingly moving blend of biography, art history, and madness, Stalking Shakespeare is as entertaining as it is rigorous and will forever change the way you look at one of historys greatest cultural and literary icons. "Following his divorce, down-and-out writer and Mississippi exile Lee Durkee holed himself up in a Vermont fishing shack and fell prey to a decades-long obsession with Shakespearian portraiture. It began with a simple premise: despite the prevalence of popular portraits, no one really knows what Shakespeare looked like. That the Bard of Avon has gotten progressively handsomer in modern depictions seems only to reinforce this point. Stalking Shakespeare is Durkee's fascinating memoir about an obsession gone awry, the 400-year-old myriad portraits attached to the famous playwright, and Durkee's own unrelenting search-via X-ray and infrared technologies-for a lost picture of the Bard painted from real life. As Durkee becomes better at beguiling curators into testing their paintings with spectral technologies, we get a front-row seat to the captivating mysteries plaguing the various portraits rumored to depict Shakespeare. Whisking us backward in time through layers of paint and into the pages of obscure books on the Elizabethans, Durkee takes us from Vermont to Tokyo to Mississippi to DC and ultimately to London to confront the stuffy curators forever protecting the image of the Bard. For his part, Durkee is the adversary they didn't know they had-a writer from Mississippi with nothing to lose-the "Dan Brown of English portraiture." A lively, bizarre, and surprisingly moving blend of biography, art history, and madness, Stalking Shakespeare is as entertaining as it is rigorous and sheds new light on one of history's greatest cultural and literary icons"-- Provided by publisher