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Message from Dean - May 8th 2007
I am currently testing out a new version of the APF Bridge Component - If you notice any errors within this demo store please drop me a line.
List Price: £7.99Amazon.co.uk's Price: £4.39 You Save: £3.60 (45%)Prices subject to change.
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Binding: Paperback
EAN: 9780007197903
ISBN: 000719790X
Label: HarperPerennial
Manufacturer: HarperPerennial
Number Of Pages: 272
Publication Date: April 01, 2008
Publisher: HarperPerennial
Studio: HarperPerennial
Alternate Versions: Click to Display
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Average Rating: 
Rating: -
Bryson on top form in this brief "bio" of the Bard. The book illustrates for the uninitiated (like me) what a dearth of knowledge there actually IS about Shakespeare but still paints a vivid picture of the man and, especially, his times. Entertaining from the off and leaving one thirsting for more.
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This is the only Bryson I have read which I thought lacking in his characteristic wit. He tells us that little is known about The Bard. He starts with his portraits but the book has no illustrations. He does give us rich historical context for the bard so we do learn a lot about his world and how slowly his historic reputation grew. He debunks the critics who want Baconian or other supposed authorship. One clear prejudice comes through. Bryson dislikes the Puritans. He describes them as a threat to Christian orthodoxy and attributes their fleeing to the American wilderness to their refusal to embrace tolerance rather than to their true motivation, reform of an intolerant Church of England which under the Stuarts wanted to enforce conformity in worship, a folly which gave us not only Pilgrims but civil war.
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I am just reading Bryson's "Shakespeare" and came across a remark saying that the swan's language is ""quite clean, indeed almost prudish" (page 111 of the paperback edition). This statement is not true. One should consult a book on Shakespeare's bawdy by Ertic Partridge and it can easily be recognized that Shakespeare was a "dirty" as almost all his contemporaries (e.g. Middleton)in specific situations. Especially people who have left the path of the heavenly order are inclined to speak in ambiguities, one meaning always being really obscene. Just contact the porter scene. Munch of it which is generally called dark becomes quite plausible when you make your imagination flow.
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Bill Bryson cuts through the layers of myth and goes back to the primary source documents that are available about the English language's greatest writer.
He has a clear love of his subject - both the man and the work - and the enthusiasm come through on every page. He seamlessly mixes analysis of the writing with biographical detail and historical context.
He does speculate a little but makes it clear when he is doing so, and why.
One disappointment is that the book ends with his debunking of the Shakespeare conspiracy theorists. Although this is well done, it is a negative note to end what is otherwise a bright, entertaining and informative book.
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I really enjoyed this book. It was a quick and easy read, admittedly, but it does not bill itself as a Shakepeare textbook or biography and would be a different animal if it was. If you take it at face value, it's a fun read, helped along by Bryson's amusing style.
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