Shakespeare | Bill Bryson
Another book on CD and one thoroughly enjoyed. Bill Bryson has done a good job here focusing on the things that we don’t know about William Shakespeare, rather than the things that we do know, or, more to the point, think that we know. He of course has a point in doing so – for what we the things we don’t know for sure about the Bard and his contemporaries, significantly outnumber the things that we actually do know, and then, for someone of his time, we know an extraordinary amount about him. A publisher with a glint in their eye (and perhaps more restraint than yours truly) could have even subtitled the book, “Much Ado About Nothing!”
Bryson doesn’t pretend to be scholarly and this is what makes this book refreshingly credible. He doesn’t over-reach nor take himself too seriously, as more than one Shakespearean academic has done in the past. He has done an excellent job in placing Shakespeare in his historical context. If one already knows a little about British history for the period, then Bryson’s explanations only serve to enhance your knowledge and make your appreciation of Shakespeare and his time even richer. Yet again, a little context goes a long way.
One of my favorite snippets: the only thing that our collective understanding of the hallowed Globe Theater in London (which showcased many of Shakespeare’s plays) is based upon nothing more than a tourist’s sketch. What artifacts for the future are we then creating today?
“Only one man had the circumstances and gifts to give us such incomparable works, and William Shakespeare of Stratford was unquestionably that man – whoever he was.”