Shakespeare
Ratings29
Average rating3.5
15
Ratings29
Average rating3.5
William Shakespeare, the most celebrated poet in the English language, left behind nearly a million words of text, but his biography has long been a thicket of wild supposition arranged around scant facts. With a steady hand and his trademark wit, Bill Bryson sorts through this colorful muddle to reveal the man himself.Bryson documents the efforts of earlier scholars, from today's most respected academics to eccentrics like Delia Bacon, an American who developed a firm but unsubstantiated conviction that her namesake, Francis Bacon, was the true author of Shakespeare's plays. Emulating the style of his famous travelogues, Bryson records episodes in his research, including a visit to a bunkerlike room in Washington, D.C., where the world's largest collection of First Folios is housed.Bryson celebrates Shakespeare as a writer of unimaginable talent and enormous inventiveness, a coiner of phrases ("vanish into thin air," "foregone conclusion," "one fell swoop") that even today have common currency. His Shakespeare is like no one else's—the beneficiary of Bryson's genial nature, his engaging skepticism, and a gift for storytelling unrivaled in our time.
Reviews with the most likes.
I appreciate that this was informative and concise, but I found it to be a bit too dry and not particularly revelatory or anything. It's not bad, just not worth recommending.
I listened to this as an audiobook from the library and it had an interview with the author at the end, which is always a nice touch.
Bryson's easy to read biography of Shakespeare is short, concise and very informative. Approached by a publisher to write a book on a “notable life” Bryson was surprised to see that no-one had yet chosen Shakespeare. Deciding to stick strictly to the facts in the historical record, Bryson proceeded to research his subject. What he found was the amazing dearth of information on our most famous poet and playwright.
There are no manuscripts in his hand in existence, we only have a few examples of his signature, we don't even know if the three main portraits of Shakespeare are really what he look like. For a man who had such an impact on our culture and language it really is hard to pin him down.
Bryson tells us what he managed to find, through research and interviewing experts on Shakespeare, on where the man came from, what his early life might have been, his rise to theatrical prominence, the plays and their dates, his business dealings, his death and even the ridiculous speculation on who else might have written the plays.
It's very well presented and highly readable. It's not ground breaking, but it is a great way to get the facts on the man behind plays such as Macbeth and Henry V. Don't expect wild theories, or speculation based on little or no evidence. What we get is a very well written investigation into the facts. And I think we can all thank Bryson for that. Very good book.
