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Shakespeare: The World as a Stage (Eminent Lives)

Shakespeare: The World as a Stage (Eminent Lives)

by Bill Bryson (Author)

  • Used

    Illustrated 2007

    $3.50

  • Used

    Paperback 2016

    $3.50

  • New

    Paperback 2008

    $16.39
Synopsis

In this much anticipated addition to the Eminent Lives series, Bill Bryson's biography of William Shakespeare unravels the superstitions, academic discoveries and myths surrounding the life of our greatest poet and playwright. Shakespeare's life, despite the scrutiny of generations of biographers and scholars, is still a thicket of myths and traditions, some preposterous, some conflicting, arranged around the few scant facts known about the Bard -- from his birth in Stratford to the bequest of his second best bed to his wife when he died. Following his international bestsellers 'A Short History of Nearly Everything' and 'The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid', Bill Bryson has written a short biography of William Shakespeare for the Eminent Lives series -- which seeks to pair great subjects with writers known for their strong sensibilities and sharp, lively points of view.

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More Information

Format: Illustrated
 Pages: 208
 Edition: Illustrated
 Publisher: HarperPress
Published: 03 Sep 2007
ISBN 10: 0007197896
ISBN 13: 9780007197897

Media Reviews
'This season's best-selling volume.' Independent. 'Pleasant quirky details...make for enjoyable interludes...admirable.' Sunday Telegraph 'A brilliantly funny and gently insightful travel guide to 16th century England. Bryson is great at picking out of the morass of Elizabethan fact the small details that illuminate and amuse!he also uncovers from the world that surrounded the theatre some fascinating examples of Elizabethan eccentricity!As an abbreviated tour around the world of Shakespeare, this could hardly be bettered.' Sunday Times 'less a biography than a delightful account of Shakespeare's elusiveness -- and the extraordinary lengths people have gone to remedy it!the pairing of Bryson with Shakespeare is a happy one.' TLS 'Bill Bryson jogs along in his own ineffable way, good--humoured, undoctrinaire, nodding respectfully at experts but confidently following his own inclinations!he is shrewd on telling detail.' The Times 'Bill Bryson has always been able to spot a market; and there ought to be a market for his latest book!an accessible, sensible Life of Shakespeare!surely a fine gift for someone encountering Shakespeare for the first time!Bryson is shrewd!and as funny as you'd expect...he sets down all the important bits of evidence, and assesses them in a measured scholarly way. He's good value too.' Daily Telegraph 'Measured, sensible and, at times, as wryly humorous as you'd expect.' Times 'Bryson uses an inimitably light touch and squeezes a vast subject down to manageable proportions!he is a warm and funny guide through the whole complicated morass of Shakespearean scholarship.' Financial Times 'Bill Bryson offers us a brisk summary of all the things we'd like to know, but don't!enough to be absorbed in an entertaining evening.' Daily Mail 'Fascinating!Bryson is the master of digression. Without the asides and witty observations about Shakespearean scholarship, there wouldn't be a book. And that would be a pity.' The Guardian 'Bill Bryson's short biography of Shakespeare is a delight!fresh, concise and!sharply illuminting!Bryson is brilliant at picking out just a few telltale details to paint a bigger picture!a gem of a book, likely to be useful to both beginners and to seasoned Shakespeareans alike.' Mail on Sunday 'A joy from first to last!this is an accessible, exhilarating biography that's shot through with Bryson's trademark humour and irreverence!tremendous.' Time Out Praise for 'A Short History of Nearly Everything': 'A modern classic.' The New York Times 'It represents a wonderful education, and all schools would be better places if it were the core science reader on the curriculum.' Times Literary Supplement Praise for 'The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid': 'Outlandishly and improbably entertaining!inevitably [I] would be reduced to body-racking, tear-inducing, de-couching laughter.' New York Times 'Always witty and sometimes hilarious!wonderfully funny and touching.' Literary Review
Author Bio
Bill Bryson's many books include, most recently 'The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid' as well as 'A Short History of Nearly Everything', 'I'm a Stranger Here Myself', 'A walk in the Woods', 'Neither Here Nor There', 'Made in America', and 'Notes from a Small Island'. He edited 'The Best American Travel Writing 2000'. Born in Des Moines, he now lives in Norfolk with his wife and four children.