Shakespeare: The World as Stage

Not just another Shakespeare book!

I think we have all read too much about Shakespeare over the years in high school and college classes. I wish I had had this book during those years because it would have made it so much more fun! This is not another book that is focusing on his writing - it looks at the man and his life in the context of the time period that he lived.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

I love Bill Bryson books!

I was facinated by the English history in the time of Shakespeare. As usual Mr Bryson has done excellent background study for his subject and imparted them to the reader in a simple and interesting manner. It pulls together a complete picture of what life was like at the time. If you are at all interested in history this is so much better than what we learned in school.

Another Bryson Classic

I'm a big fan of Bill Bryson and am impressed with the range of his work from travelogue to memoir to historical narratives. This book offered a smoothly written account of what amazingly little is know about Shakespeare's life and evenly mixed in a critical review of all the speculations. Bryson manages to turn biography into somewhat of a page turner. I read it over two days of my Christmas vacation and wished there was more. The layout of this edition is fantastic with art, maps and photos that make the book all the more fun.

Information yet entertaining read

I found Bill Bryson's Shakespeare very informational. It was filled with facts, but written in an entertaining manner. I will be using some of the information in my English classes.

shakespeare The World's A Stage

Very interesting, I find myself listening to it over again in the car on my commute because there is so much fascinating information.

Bill Bryson's Shakespeare (CD)

This is Bryson at his best. We thoroughly enjoyed his wit and wisdom.

Very Entertaining!

As always, Bill Bryson has written an interesting, witty and intellectual book. I learned a great deal about the life of Shakespeare and what life in general was like while he was living. I will definitely listen to this book again after I've loaned it out to my friends and family.

A fascinating look at Shakespeare

There have been many books about Shakespeare, as Bill Bryson acknowledges in his opening pages. The beauty of Bryson's work is that he has compiled the essentials of what is known about Shakespeare's life into a compelling and well-written biography while succinctly debunking some of the inaccurate speculations or far-fetched theories about the parts of Shakespeare's life about which we know little. He also gives a reasoned argument for why Shakespeare is Shakespeare (i.e. how a man from Stratford could have written the plays, as well as why someone like Francis Bacon didn't.)

Shakespeare

One of tha many unknowable facts about William Shakespeare is the way he preferred to spell his name. As writer Bill Bryson highlights in his biography, i Shakespeare /i , there are only six surviving signatures by the playwright and poet, and he spelt his name differently on each occasion, from 'Wm Shakspe' to 'William Shakespeare'. Ironically, 'one spelling he didn't use was the one now universally attached to his name'. But as the Bard himself said, a rose by any other name would smell as sweet. The thing is, for someone as important a literature figure as Shakespeare, what is known about him is lamentably little, and much of what is known is false. In his typically accessible manner, the Britain-based American author of the bestselling i Notes From A Small Island /i , has waded through reams of scholarly research to come up with this concise book, part of Harper Perennial's Eminent Lives series: 'The idea is a simple one: to see how much of Shakespeare we can know, really know, from the record. Which is one reason, of course, it's so slender.' That everything on the record has to be questioned is a point he makes from the start, even what Shakespeare looked like. The popular image of him - receding hairline, moustached and be-earringed - is based on only three likeness, two created after his death and one which cannot even be verified as an actual portrait of the man. While much of the arcana and trivia will seem familiar to anyone else who has studied Shakespeare and his plays at university, or someone who was even the slightest bit conscientious while sightseeing in London and Stratford-upon-Avon, Bryson's achievement here is in distilling all the existing facts and conjectures into snappy, immensely entertaining chapters. He is a passionate but unsentimental narrator, dutifully quoting figures demonstrating Shakespeare's significance - he is credited with introducing 2,035 words into the English language - while noting the playwright's penchant for plagiarism. He also unapologetically quashes long-held and beloved beliefs, such as that Shakespeare left his wife his second-best bed as a token of affection (the evidence, Bryson says, points to the conclusion that the Bard simply didn't care for his wife very much). He sensitively handles the debate over Shakespeare's sexuality, indulging in enough spicy gossip to keep things interesting - he hilariously describes a portrait of possible love interest Henry Wriothesley as 'showing him with flowing auburn locks draped over his left shoulder, at a time when men did not normally wear their hair so long or arrange it with such smouldering allure'. However, Bryson does get a bit too emotional at times, such as when he repeatedly refers to Shakespeare's friends, Condell and Heminges, as 'heroes' for compiling the First Folio, the first comprehensive collection of Shakespeare's plays. This makes up most of what the world has of his work, given that no manuscripts in his own hand have survived. Bryson's portrayal of the duo makes it seem as if they acted entirely out of altruism, and he does not for a momeny entertain the possibility that the friends might have done it at least partly for profit. Regardless of motive, it is true that posterity owes them a huge debt of gratitude. Even as Shakespeare remains an enigmatic figure, each restaging and reinterpretation of his plays sees his characters grow more and more vivid in the collective imagination.

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