I took a brief break from the plays to read an account of Shakespeare’s life and times by one my favorite authors, namely, Bill Bryson and his truly excellent book Shakespeare: The World as Stage. It is vastly understated to say I enjoyed this book. I loved it. Bryson is brilliant, funny, clear, concise, relevant, and just plain readable. Basically, he is everything I would want to be if I could be a real writer. And that is perhaps the main thing that grabbed me about this book: Bryson has done exactly what I am trying to do with this blog, only light years (light centuries?) better. He takes what many would regard as a boring topic (Shakespeare...yawn) and proceeds to create a hugely entertaining page-turner of a book. Damn him!
The basic message of this book is this: we hardly know anything about this guy Shakespeare, a guy who is pretty much universally accepted as the greatest writer in the English language. Given this, Bryson focuses like a laser on what we do know. The reader comes away feeling that it is extraordinary that we know as much (and have as much) as we do, appreciating this fact in all its facets, thoroughly and deeply. The book is thus a detailed analysis of what we do (or think we do) know about The Bard of Avon and his works. Anyone with even a passing interest in such things would be well advised to pick this one up.
So, check it out if you know what’s good for you. Now, for me, back to The Merchant of Venice.
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