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3.78 AVERAGE
3.78 AVERAGE
A wonderfully funny yet serious explorations of the life and times of Shakespeare, and how little we actually know about the greatest author of the English language.
Bill Bryson è brillante e divertente, e anche un po' faceto in questo saggio...È stato bello leggere tutte queste curiosità sul Bardo!
Love Bill, love Will - a very easy to read journey through Shakespeare's life and times.
funny
informative
lighthearted
fast-paced
Very enjoyable book. Not really a biography of Shakespeare, though. It explains how we know what we know about Shakespeare and how different biographers reached different conclusions. On top of that, you learn a little bit about the history of London and theatre.
The last chapters deal with conspiracy theories that Shakespeare was not actually Shakespeare. I really enjoyed that because I just love how creative conspiracy theorists get. I laughed out loud quite a few times, especially when Mrs Bacon believed that Francis Bacon was Shakespeare, which she 'knew' because she "absorbed atmospheres" at locations where he had spent time.
Recommended for people who enjoy Bill Bryson's books or are interested in Shakespeare, theatre or daily life around 1600.
The last chapters deal with conspiracy theories that Shakespeare was not actually Shakespeare. I really enjoyed that because I just love how creative conspiracy theorists get. I laughed out loud quite a few times, especially when Mrs Bacon believed that Francis Bacon was Shakespeare, which she 'knew' because she "absorbed atmospheres" at locations where he had spent time.
Recommended for people who enjoy Bill Bryson's books or are interested in Shakespeare, theatre or daily life around 1600.
Content Warnings
Minor: Death, Violence, Murder, Fire/Fire injury
funny
informative
lighthearted
medium-paced
Bryson does a great job of explaining how little the world knows of Shakespeare, and really, of anyone who was not a royal in the Elizabethan/Jacobean age.
He also explains what the world does know, and how it knows it, and backs up each claim.
I think my favorite thing I've learned in a month is that in the first edition of the First Folio, in the middle of Much Ado About Nothing, the characters' names Dogberry and Verges in a scene are replaced with the actors' names Will and Richard (not Shakespeare, but Kempe, probably, and not Burbage, but Crowley, probably).
He also explains what the world does know, and how it knows it, and backs up each claim.
I think my favorite thing I've learned in a month is that in the first edition of the First Folio, in the middle of Much Ado About Nothing, the characters' names Dogberry and Verges in a scene are replaced with the actors' names Will and Richard (not Shakespeare, but Kempe, probably, and not Burbage, but Crowley, probably).
I learned that no one really knows anything about Shakespeare. Bill Bryson is such a good researcher. I wish he would do another book on someone else.
Lots of "alas, we cannot know" in this book, but Bryson is witty as ever. His takedown of the anti-Stratfordians is especially amusing.
It's interesting information for the slightly more than casual Shakespeare fan. Bryson has done the work and research for us so long as you take him at his word. Will be using some of this for my classes