Shakespeare: The World as Stage (Eminent Lives Series)
Bill Bryson’s bestselling and brilliantly witty biography of William Shakespeare takes the reader on an enthralling tour through Elizabethan England and the eccentricities of Shakespearean scholarship—updated with a new introduction by the author to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death
William Shakespeare, the most celebrated poet in the English language, left behind nearly a million words of text, but his biography has long been a thicket of wild supposition arranged around scant facts. With a steady hand and his trademark wit, Bill Bryson sorts through this colorful muddle to reveal the man himself in this captivating historical biography. His Shakespeare is like no one else’s—the beneficiary of Bryson’s genial nature, his engaging skepticism, and a gift for storytelling unrivaled in our time.
Bryson’s quest to uncover the real Shakespeare delivers a lively and accessible look at the man and his world:
- A Tour of Elizabethan England: Journey back to a time of plague, plotting, and brilliant creativity, exploring the world that shaped the famous playwright.
- Shakespearean Scholarship Debunked: With his trademark skepticism, Bryson navigates the eccentric theories and wild suppositions that have long obscured the truth about the Bard.
- The Man Behind the Plays: Sifting through the scant facts, this engaging account moves beyond the million words of text to reveal a surprisingly human and relatable figure.
- Accessible Literary History: Forget dry academic analysis. This is a story-driven exploration, perfect for anyone who wants to understand the life behind the literature.
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Community Reviews
Bryson is such a good writer when it comes to fleshing out facts into something that is entertaining and memorable. Even he concedes that this is a very short book because if we're going on fact, there isn't much to go on. Shakespeare led a life off the papers, showing up only sometimes in court documents. We know he married young, had children and went to London for the theatre and wrote fantastically brilliant plays. Little else is known but much else is speculated.
Bryson tries to weed fact from fiction in this book and, when laid out as such, it's amazing to me how much is just guessed at about Shakespeare's life.
This is an interesting little book if you like the bard but you won't really learn a lot. But if it's facts you're after, they are here.
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