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3.78 AVERAGE
3.78 AVERAGE
J’ai surtout décidé d’écouter ce livre audio parce que j’adore la voix de Bill Bryson, depuis que j’ai écouté The Body: A guide to its occupants. Là encore j’ai adoré sa voix et sa façon de raconter des faits. L’histoire de Shakespeare en elle-même n’est pas passionnante mais j’ai trouvé la révélation de l’historiographie absolument fascinante: le peu d’infos sur le dramaturge, les preuves sur lesquelles tous les biographes et reconstructions se basent, le contexte historique etc.
Utterly fascinating! Now that my love for Shakespeare has been rekindled, I want to go read some Macbeth.
It was very good. i learned alot about Shakespeare scholarship as well more about what was going on in London at the time.
I love Bill Bryson - and, as an English teacher, have an inherent interest in Shakespeare - but generally don't like reading biographies. This was definitely one of the more pleasant bios I've read what with Bryson's eye for the odd in contextualizing the setting and the book's brevity, which really is appropriate given how little we know for certain about Shakespeare's life. I did find myself wishing it was either more academic (think index and footnotes) or more Brysonian (think laugh-out-loud moments when we actually see Bill trekking around the world trying to glean as much as he can about the subject), but as part of a series, I don't think either of those were an option.
I don't think I could have predicted it myself, but Bill Bryson's voice served as the perfect voice for presenting the mystery that is a Shakespearian biography. I have learned so much about what is both known and unknown about Shakespeare all from an engaging voice. I also appreciate that Bryson is willing to share his own opinions on the various debates concerning the person of Shakespeare, but does so in a way that is not trying to force you to believe exactly as he does. However if any of you are up for a little debate, this book did help support my opinion that Shakespeare is, in fact, the author of the majority of works accredited to him. I expect that I will refer to this book again and again as I teach the works of Shakespeare in my classroom.
Thought this was a great overview for life of Shakespeare. Bryson admits that there isn't much fact surrounding his life, much is speculated. I didn't know much about Shakespeare before I read this book, therefore found it insightful and entertaining.
informative
lighthearted
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death
Minor: Homophobia, Mental illness, Violence, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic
This book is ostensibly about Shakespeare but is almost more about Shakespeare scholarship than the man himself. This book spends most of its time talking not about what we know about Shakespeare (although it does cover that) but rather what specific evidence we have for what we know. Spoiler alert: we have very few true facts supported by primary sources. A significant portion of this book is spent pointing out things people have claimed about Shakespeare that is actually just conjecture. I found this aspect more interesting than learning about Shakespeare himself. I like Shakespeare but am not enthralled the way many (the author included) are, so I find the amount of effort that has been put into Shakespeare scholarship frankly a little depressing. Although this book was "just OK," it got the third star for being short enough that I didn't regret reading ti.
I've enjoyed previous books by Bill Bryson, and this proved no exception. His survey of Will Shakespeare's life (what little we know of it) was nicely balanced, with numerous comments reminding the reader not to extrapolate too far from the little factual information we actually have. He also nicely does away with the "Anti-Stratford" theorists, those who insist the Shakespeare couldn't possibly have written his plays and have put forward a number of possible authors.
It's also a short book so it's not overwhelming -- truly nice balance between a dense scholarly work and a hastily dashed off book with no scholarship at all. A very enjoyable read!
It's also a short book so it's not overwhelming -- truly nice balance between a dense scholarly work and a hastily dashed off book with no scholarship at all. A very enjoyable read!
A whole book talking about how we know nothing about Skakespeare without the normal Bill Bryson wit. Need I say more?