Review of Shakespeare – The World as a Stage
Author Bill Bryson Delves Into the Mysteries of Shakespeare
Aug 16, 2009
Writing a biography of William Shakespeare (1564-1616) is no easy task. For such a colossal figure, who has cast the longest shadow over English literature and drama, remarkably little is known about him. According to the historical record, it has been said, he was born in Stratford-upon-Avon, had a family, moved to London, wrote some plays, returned to Stratford and died. The proverbial puzzle wrapped in an enigma, William Shakespeare seems content to let his work do the speaking for him.
Biography of William Shakespeare
Undaunted, author Bill Bryson teases out the details of Shakespeare’s life with his usual aplomb. In a short and sharp work, he investigates both Shakespeare’s life and work and the voluminous Shakespearean scholarship that has arisen over the centuries since the playwright’s death in 1616.
Bryson brings to life the disparate elements of Shakespeare’s world – the scary excitement that was sixteenth-century London, with its outbreaks of plague and its newly-built theatres; the religious controversies of the age; the Spanish Armada. It was against this lively – and sometimes deadly – background that Shakespeare made a living as both actor and playwright.
Shakespearean Controversies
The record throws a fitful light on Shakespeare’s early years in his home town of Stratford-upon-Avon, before darkening completely between 1585 and 1592, a period often referred to as Shakespeare’s “Lost Years”. The dearth of known facts concerning Shakespeare’s life has given rise to all manner of speculations and wild theories, which Bryson delights in knocking down, albeit in a scholarly and gentlemanly way.
Bryson’s wry humor, so evident in his famous travel books such as Notes from a Small Island and Neither Here Nor There, is very much in evidence as he tackles such topics as Shakespeare’s religious leanings, sexuality and the notion that Shakespeare was not, in fact, Shakespeare.
Of the possibility that the works of Shakespeare were written by Mary Sidney, Countess of Pembroke, for instance, Bryson acknowledges her beauty and connections, but adds, “all that is missing to connect her with Shakespeare is anything to connect her with Shakespeare.”
Bryson’s fascination with the English language comes to the fore when he discusses the plays and Shakespeare’s creative way with words. He notes that it was Shakespeare who made the first recorded use of 2,035 words, including “lonely, leapfrog, indistinguishable, well-read and zany.” Before Shakespeare, no-one had thought to “play fast and loose,” “go down the primrose path” or “budge an inch”. Shakespeare and his peers gave English an undeniable added punch.
Bill Bryson’s Shakespeare is both history and biography. Highly readable, the book illuminates Shakespeare’s world and its dazzling creativity.
Author Bill Bryson
Bill Bryson is primarily famous for his gently humorous travel books, as well as his work on the story of the English language, Mother Tongue, and a history of science A Short History of Nearly Everything.
Bill Bryson, Shakespeare – The World As a Stage (Harper Perennial, 2007) ISBN 9780007197903, 195 pages.
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