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Shakespeare
- The World as Stage
- Narrated by: Bill Bryson
- Length: 5 hrs and 29 mins
- Categories: Biographies & Memoirs, Historical
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Here are the thrills, grandeur, and unabashed fun of the Greek myths, stylishly retold by Stephen Fry. The legendary writer, actor, and comedian breathes life into ancient tales, from Pandora's box to Prometheus's fire, and transforms the adventures of Zeus and the Olympians into emotionally resonant and deeply funny stories, without losing any of their original wonder. Learned notes from the author offer rich cultural context. This volume is a doorway into a captivating world.
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Publisher's Summary
Bryson documents the efforts of earlier scholars, from academics to eccentrics. Emulating the style of his famous travelogues, Bryson records episodes in his research, including a visit to a bunker-like basement room in Washington, D.C., where the world's largest collection of First Folios is housed.
Bryson celebrates Shakespeare as a writer of unimaginable talent and enormous inventiveness, a coiner of phrases ("vanish into thin air", "foregone conclusion", "one fell swoop") that even today have common currency. His Shakespeare is like no one else's: the beneficiary of Bryson's genial nature, his engaging skepticism, and a gift for storytelling unrivaled in our time.
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- Crystal
- 2013-02-24
Unexpected Findings in a Quality Bryson Book
There's not much that can shock me about Shakespeare theories. I have a BA in English Literature. I've read all the plays, sonnets, even the ones suspected to be by Shakespeare.
It seemed an odd topic for beloved Bryson to tackle and I was curious about his angle on it. I was pleasantly surprised, "What do we really know about the bard?" he asks in the first chapter.
This was a refreshing and lively investigation into what's real and what's dreamed about one man's life. Solid topics, using all types of research from court records to paintings, Bryson gives a new eye on an ages old mystery. In the process, we learn about how many things have simply been made up by well meaning researchers for the past four hundred years!
I found myself wishing there was more. I loved it.
23 people found this helpful
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- Charles L. Burkins
- 2007-11-30
Too Little, Too Short
Bill Bryson's voice (both actual and literary) shine through in this short work, detailing what is known and knowable about William Shakespeare. Because little is known about Shakespeare, this book has less of the amusing anecdotes that make books like "In a Sunburned Country" such a delight. It's quite frustrating to realize that we know so little about a figure so important to English literature. Still it is an interesting exposition on an interesting man, or rather, what we expect is an interesting man. The audiobook it self is only a little over 5 hours long, but (as of November 2007) there is an interview with Bryson appended on end for another bit. I liked it, but then I expect that I would enjoy Bryson writing about asparagus. The chapter where he discusses the various theories about Shakespeare not actually writing the plays of Shakespeare is the best part; but there the book ends. In the end it is a barely satifying book because of the paucity of the material, but it is a book that is well written and narrated.
37 people found this helpful
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- Cathleen
- 2009-03-22
A Walk in the Forest Arden
My first exposure to Bill Bryson was A Walk in the Woods and I enjoy it still. Shakespeare is a different book -- more journalism than recollection, but it is extremely enjoyable and a good "listen" -- the chapters lend themselves to logical breaks, etc. And it is very amusing!
All of the historical detail is fascinating, and makes one wonder how we ever got the folio version of the plays at all. Probably the most interesting part for me was the debunking of all the "He didn't write the plays" theories.
Very enjoyable.
12 people found this helpful
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- Cather
- 2007-12-09
Bryson does it again...
Bryson admits up front that we know practically nothing about Shakespeare, but proceeds to tell what we do know, and how we know it, about the Bard himself, London, and the theatre world at the time. And he does it in classic Bryson style, finding the humor in everything.
And clearly, he's having fun reading it. He should... it's a fun book.
17 people found this helpful
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- Catherine
- 2012-01-24
Don't know much about Shakespeare
Bill Bryson talks as much about what we don't know about Shakespeare (or Shacksper or Shakspere, etc.) as what we do know. It is informative in a negative sort of way, with digressions on Shakespeare scholars, life and theater in the Elizabethan and Jacobian ages, and a bit about who else might have written the plays. I recommend it.
6 people found this helpful
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- Joshua Kim
- 2012-06-10
Concise and Wonderful
The world, or at least my world, needs more high quality concise books. Bryson's new Shakespeare, from the Eminent Lives Series, is one of the genres better examples.
The Modern Library Chronicles is another imprint with some excellent texts. To quote from their page:
"Modern Library Chronicles feature the world's great historians on the world's great subjects. Lively, accessible, and brief (most under 150 pages), these authoritative short histories are designed to appeal to general readers as well as to students in the classroom".
11 people found this helpful
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- En vino veritas
- 2015-08-30
Perfect biography for school
My 7 th grade son has taken an interest in Shakespeare over the last school year and during our travel to London this summer. We were looking for a biography for summer reading requirements that was detailed, yet not such a large volume. This was perfect. We both enjoyed the Kindle and Audible version, and having been in so many of the places recently, including a performace at The Globe, it was like reliving all of the tours we had just taken. The thorough investigation and accumulation of facts regarding what we know, and what we don't know, was both digestable and intriguing for my son. It left him begging for a trip to the Folger Shakespeare Museum not far from us in Washington, DC. Thank you!
3 people found this helpful
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- Andy Spooner
- 2009-07-25
Very enjoyable in the typical Bryson style
This one is more in the historical vein of "Mother Tongue" or "Made in America" (as opposed to memoirs like "In a Sunburned Country" or "A Walk in the Woods"). Not as laugh-out-loud funny as his memoir-style books, but entertaining and fascinating, I thought.
3 people found this helpful
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- Mau Mau
- 2015-04-08
Humorous & Accessible
Bill Bryson narrates his own humorous review of Shakespeare's life and the scholarship that's grown up around it. Bryson's reading is staccato and a bit dry at first, but I warmed to it over time. This is not a book for scholars or even serious students of Shakespeare. It's a funny look at the man who has affected so much and about whom so little is known. That said, Bryson appears to have done his homework. I learned enough to feel inoculated against silly conspiracy theories on the one hand or purist dogma on the other. Definitely recommended
2 people found this helpful
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- Tad Davis
- 2020-02-19
Short, sweet, and accurate
This book — part travelogue, part collection of interviews — is actually a handy little biography of Shakespeare. Bryson is an amateur when it comes to Shakespeare, but as a writer he's a consummate professional: he's read the right books (Samuel Schoenbaum, G Blakemore Evans) and he's talked to the right people (Stanley Wells, Georgiana Ziegler), and he’s assembled the results in an entertaining and accessible way. He narrates his own book in a charming, maybe slightly less than conversational voice. One of the things I like about the book is that brief as it is, it doesn't focus relentlessly on Shakespeare alone. Bryson takes the time to look to the right and the left of his subject, and his book is full of fascinating and little-known details about the period. (Little known by me, at any rate.) The last chapter is a cheerful takedown of the misguided idea that someone other than the glover’s son from Stratford wrote the plays. The book concludes with a brief interview with the always-enthusiastic author. (My favorite question: “Do you think we'll ever find the play Love’s Labours Won?”) Short and sweet, accurate, deeply interested in his subject.... if you want to extend your knowledge of Shakespeare, start here.
1 person found this helpful
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- Pierre Gauthier
- 2020-07-04
Worthwhile!
In this rather compact essay, Bill Bryson discusses what is known of William Shakespeare’s life. A bit disappointingly, it turns out this is rather limited. No one is even sure of the order in which the plays were written and performed! Still, it is intriguing to learn about the various theories that have been contrived over the centuries They are more a reflection of the sensibilities of each age than anything that can be proven as fact. Narration is made by the author himself and his warm, personal style add much to the listener’s enjoyment. A short interview, perhaps from a British radio broadcast, is included as a bonus. Amusingly, Bill Bryson’s accent is then very much in tune with his interlocutor’s!