I'm torn on this one. As far as Shakespeare biographies go, it's probably pretty good (I have nothing to judge it by!). At times some of the conjecture on Burgess' part bothered me, but a biography of The Bard can be little more than supposition. At other times, particularly during his narrative concerning the performance of Hamlet, I was enchanted by the reality of attending an Elizabethan play.

Heavy on historical context--that being the only concrete detail available--the biography provided a very convincing impetus for the creation of each play.

Perhaps the most distinctive and pleasing element of Burgess' book lies not in its ability to inform by dissecting the "raw facts" of history, but rather in its reflection of one accomplished writer's speculative musings on the great--yet altogether elusive--details of the life of one of his literary heroes. In this playful biographical study, the author pieces together the scant surviving historical accounts of the life of The Bard and acknowledges them as the thin and inadequate skeleton that they are for framing the life behind the greatest playwright of all time. Then he effusively fills in the gaps with his own informed guesses and imaginative theories. The Shakespeare that Burgess portrays is one who may or may not have been real, but who commodiously satisfies the personal questions that plain history leaves disappointingly unanswered.

The extent to which Burgess' guesses often digresses into the realm of fantasy and grandiose myth will inevitably elicit a cringe or two from the reader; however, the book is altogether an enjoyable read and does an excellent job of placing Shakespeare and his works in a historical context that fans of his plays and poems might not otherwise consider. Personally, I couldn't put it down. The book certainly enabled me to see some of my favorite plays in a new light and instilled me with an eagerness to read or reread several of his works.

Entertainingly written but horrendously misogynist.

I am not sure was I prepared to read this work by Anthony Burgess about Shakespeare. I get that a lot of it was a speculation and fiction written about Shakespeare. It was an interesting piece of work, however it took me forever to read it. Some places were intriguing, had a lot of historical facts which amazed me and I felt that they were useful. Yet, in some cases the speculation of facts was too long and complicated to understand.

Excepțională!

A joyous, intellectual read. Wasn't Burgess a genius? Truly a remarkable man. In truth, Burgess' Shakespeare has very little of factual novelty to offer my generation; all of his knowledge and intuition have formed part of the basis of the latest generation of Shakespeare biographers and writers, not to mention those like Robert Nye's The Late Mr. Shakespeare.

Nevertheless, the way that Burgess writes makes this book easily worthwhile. Taking just the facts that we know about the Bard (or, knew, in 1976), he strings a story of Shakespeare's life that is full of reasonable assumptions and some more fantastic but equally beautiful surprises. A vivid and enjoyable read.

Not the most reliable biography of Will floating around out there, but Burgess is fully upfront whenever he is indulging in a flight of fancy or making a bold speculation. The few hard facts that we have about Shakespeare don’t make for a very riveting read, so I immensely enjoyed following Burgess into the realm of imagination in order to conjure up vivid depiction of Shakespeare’s London, his cranky contemporaries, and of course the mysterious man himself.

Very nicely illustrated and a interesting look-see at the possible Dark Lady...

Groundbreaking narrative of Shakespeare’s life, a lively and immediate look at Elizabethan London and the world of Shakespeare and his fellow players and writers.

An imaginative and effective biography.

So after yesterday’s post it seems only fair to reveal what my hidden quotes were. Everything in bold is a Shakespeare quote. I did say they were hidden. Perhaps even in plain sight! (Don't hate me when you read the first one)

n  (1)“There’s Rosemary. That’s for remembrance.” n



It’s the 400th anniversary since Shakespeare’s death! I just had to post something Shakespeare related on this day of all days. I mean can you blame me? Shakespeare’s just awesome. Also to liven things up a bit, I’ve discretely layered my review with Shakespeare phrases. Can you spot any? Some are obvious, but I don’t think you’ll find them all. There are thirteen in total.

So here goes.

This is the most unscholarly scholarly book I’ve ever read. It’s witty, supremely entertaining, and no less informative than a standard biography. It’s also quite concise; there’s no waffle:(2) brevity is the soul of wit. (3)It’s the best of both worlds really. I really enjoyed this, and I learnt a great deal about the Bard in the process. (4)It’s the be-all and the end-all of Shakespeare biographies really. In (5)one fell swoop Burgess provides a great level of detail about Shakespeare’s background; it provides a great level of detail about the man himself and the time in which he wrote. Burgess isn’t bias; he just provides as much information as possible. He starts from the beginning, from Shakespeare’s (6)flaming youth, (7)to his death bed where he breathed his last.

The chapters are organised for easy reference. It really is a good little book. In case you didn’t know, Anthony Burgess is the author of the famous A Clockwork Orange. So there’s going to be some skill in the writing. I tend to find biographies dry and boring; however, this was almost uplifting in places. (8)And that’s the naked truth.



My edition is the beautiful folio society one. The only way I could justify buying more of these lovely, and expensive, books was if they were university related, so I was very pleased to find this. Even if I’m no longer studying Shakespeare! (9)There's the rub.But who cares? Despite finishing with this a university, I think I will always be studying Shakespeare. Shakespeare’s verses are (10) as swift as a shadow, and his plays are (11)such stuff as dreams are made on. His writing, his legacy, is everlasting. (12)In my heart of heartsI can tell you that there will never be a day when Shakespeare’s words aren’t relevant to the world. All people have to do is open their ears and hear them. (13)That’s the short and the long of it.

How many did you spot?

The greatest single work ever written on the Bard, resisting both the impulse to defame or deify. Absolutely brilliant from the first page. Highest rating.