Shakespeare

by Bill Bryson

From bestselling author Bill Bryson comes this compelling short biography of William Shakespeare, our greatest dramatist and poet.

Examining centuries of myths, half-truths and downright lies, Bill Bryson makes sense of the man behind the masterpieces. As he leads us through the crowded streets of Elizabethan England, he brings to life the places and characters that inspired Shakespeare's work. Along the way he delights in the inventiveness of Shakespeare's language, which has given us so many of the indispensable words and phrases we use today, and celebrates the Bard's legacy to our literature, culture and history.

Drawing together information from a vast array of sources, this is a masterful account of the life and works of William Shakespeare, one of the most famous and most enigmatic people ever to have lived - not to mention a classic piece of Bill Bryson.

• ISBN13: 9780007197903
• Publish Date: 1 April 2008 (first published 3 September 2007)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Imprint: William Collins
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 272
• Language: English
• URL: http://harpercollins.co.uk

Reviews

[celinenyx]

I was a nice, fun, quick read, and I feel smarter afterwards. Mission accomplished.

Strengths:
- Mr Bryson makes a good distinction between fiction and fact. As he clearly notes, there are a lot of scholars that think to know how Shakespeare was as a person, even though no one could ever have that knowledge
- Every chapter there is a nice chunk of background information on the time period. For the history dummies out there, this book makes sure you know what it's talking about
- Bryson has a certain way of storytelling that makes Shakespeare an engaging read
- I appreciate his humour immensely

Weaknesses:
- The names. Oh lord, the names. Really, after a while I just couldn't remember all those similar looking British names
- Just like the people's names, I sometimes had problems with the names of Shakespeare's plays. At one point he starts composing lists of which play had been written when by different theories. He completely lost me by then
- I'm not that big on deciphering Elizabethan sentences, so a translating now and than would have been helpful