Shakespeare
July 10, 2008 at 8:58 pm (Uncategorized) (biography, the bard)
Shakespeare: The World as Stage by Bill Bryson
I actually listened to this one as an audio book, but I’m still going to write it up in here. I haven’t quite decided whether I think that listening to a book is the same thing as reading it. I think that for me, it’s actually more challenging. Regardless, I’m reading through it in book-format now.
For all that I love Shakespeare, I’d never read a biography of him before. This one came quite highly recommended by quite a few people, and as I really like Bill Bryson, and was curious to hear him read his own work, I decided to listen to his book. I was surprised to learn as I started listening to it how little I actually knew about Shakespeare.
Bryson’s work emphasizes the fact that I’m clearly not alone in this. Very little is known for certain about Shakespeare at all. I loved the way that Bryson exposed this fact while still managing to put together a coherent biography, and simultaneously avoided making assumptions as many other scholars have. He also filled in the gaps in Shakespeare’s life with a fascinating sketch of London as Shakespeare would have known it.
I think the part of the book that surprised me the most was the section about the Sonnets. I’d never read the Sonnets before, despite having taken a class on Shakespeare alone in university, and never read about them either. So I was surprised to learn about the Fair Youth and the Dark Lady, and interested to hear the theories about who these subjects may have been in Shakespeare’s life. Regardless of who they were, or if they even had counterparts in Shakespeare’s life, I am grateful for this section of the book for introducing me to the Sonnets. I’ve fallen in love!
My one complaint about this book is that when discussing possible likenesses of Shakespeare, Bryson failed to mention the Sanders portrait. I don’t generally approve of scholars making unfounded assumptions, but I still do it myself, and to me, the Sanders portrait is the face of the Bard.
Lloyd Sullivan said,
July 12, 2008 at 6:19 am
Dear Sir: I am the owner of the Sanders portrait and wish to thank you for your kind words about the portrait. I have done many years of research on the portrait and have just recently completed 13 major scientific tests on the portrait. All the tests proved positive starting with the oak wood that the portrait is painted on which proved to be a little over 400 years old, the carbon dating of the paint and the make-up of the paint coincides with materials used in paint at that time. Even the glue used to stick the ragweed label onto the back of the painting was found to be a combination of rice and potato starch, both materials that were used 400 yrs. ago as an addhesive . The last test I had done was the forensic ink test which proved witthout question that the ink on the label on the back of the portrait is approx. 400 years old as well. This test was carried out by McCrone’s and Associates out of Chicago who are the leading forensic ink experts in the world. They are the ones who worked on the Shroud of Turin years ago and the Vinland map and more recently did the forensic ink tests on the Gospel of Judas and now the Sanders portrait. I am presently working on the genealogy of my family and have made some important discoveries which will be included in my upcoming book, ‘Sanders Shakespeare’. There is no question that what you are looking at is the true-life image of William Shakespeare when you look at the Sanders portrait and you are right on with your comments above. Sincerely, Lloyd S.