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Shakespeare

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The late, great Anthony Burgess shares one of the loves of his life--the works of Shakespeare--with the reader, not by providing close analysis of the literature itself (many fine books that do so are already available, as the author points out in his opening paragraphs), but by giving the reader a solid background on the Elizabethan era: on the major political figures, the intrigues, English preoccupations both domestic and abroad, a history of the theater, Shakespeare's contemporaries including Christopher Marlowe and Ben Jonson, and speculation about the life of Shakespeare himself. The information is surprising and fascinating. In the best chapter in the book, Burgess brilliantly imagines the first stage production of _Hamlet_. Likely named for Shakespeare's tragically short-lived son Hamnet, the play features Shakespeare's friend Richard Burbage in the title role. When Polonius tells Hamlet how he was once a player in his youth, and was "killed in the Capitol", acting as Julius Caesar, Hamlet remarks how one could kill "so capital a calf". Burgess reveals the joke shared by the actors and their Elizabethan audience: that in previous weeks, the actor who plays Polonius in the current production probably played the title role in Shakespeare's _Julius Caesar_. Mr. Burgess also shows the parallels between the Histories and the current political concerns of the time: Henry V is also a commentary on the rise to power of the Earl of Essex, almost overtly stated by the Chorus in the beginning. Shakespeare's fellow playwrights and actors also figure in his lines. Buried in a play are the words, "It strikes a man more dead/Than a great reckoning in a little room," clearly a reference to the death of Marlowe. By tracing the artistic development and clarifying the backdrop of Elizabethan politics and history, Burgess's brilliant book will illuminate the plays and poems, generousl providing with much loving detail and attention to the reader a far greater understanding and appreciation--and inspiring a greater love--of Shakespeare.

I have to admit that I was not such a big fan of Shakespeare, before reading Mr. Burgess book. I had only the information I got in school, where most of the things we learn are dry and not interesting at all. Well, this biography has nothing to do with it. Its full of history, literary analysis, facts about Shakespare's private life, England at that time, all written with a lot of common sense, a great and intelligent sense of humour. If you dont like Shakespeare or if you think he is not such a big deal, read this book, and I promise you, you will want to read again all his works and see them in a different light.

Anthony Burgess, perhaps best known as author of "A Clockwork Orange", wrote this engaging biography of Shakespeare in 1970. As more than one critic has noted, all the Shakespeare biographies that have come out over the centuries are bound by one common thread: they all must work from the same finite set of information. Much is known about Shakespeare, but much is not known. And what is known grows no larger. We know a bit about his Stratford origins, his move to London, his life and business, and his brief retirement back home. And of course, we have Shakespeare's writings. Or as Burgess puts it, "Infuriatingly, whenever Shakespeare does something other than buy a lease or write a play, history shuts her jaws with a snap."

The challenge to a biographer is to present the material in such a way as to be informative to those who've never read a biography, interesting to those who have, and true to the set of known facts. Burgess meets the challenge and then some -- Burgess was, of course, a fine writer, and he was also an erudite scholar and a fan, though a sharp-eyed one, of his subject. Careful to qualify his guesswork, he jumps to many credible and a few incredible though amusing conclusions --for example about Shakespeare's family and home life-- that set a fertile context for the known facts. Burgess has done his homework on the royals and nobles in Britain, describing the climate change after Elizabeth's death, Southampton's eclipse and Essex's treason. He has read the contemporaries, Marlow and Jonson and Philip Sidney (who wrote of writer's block: "Thus, great with child to speak, and helpless in my throes, Biting my truant pen, beating myself for spite; 'Fool,' said my Muse to me, 'look in the heart, and write.'")

The analysis of the plays is strong (particularly the flesh vs. gold themes in "Merchant", not new yet well put). And the final lines are wonderful, the Shakespeare-as-us theme written so as to leave us with a smile. Burgess was a true writer, and his biography of Shakespeare has the virtue of being fresh and witty and insightful, it stands out from the others.

Mr. Burgess knows his Shakespeare and shares his wealth of knowledge in a very fascinating way. Almost every aspect of the Bard's life is analyzed and it creates a very entertaining story.

Not much is known about William Shakespeare himself. This often forces Burgess to make educated conjectures as to what the truth may have been. When Burgess puts forth his opinion he supports it with so much fact that you almost feel that if it wasn't the way Burgess said it was, it should have been.

All-in-all, if you are a Shakespeare man and want to know what inspired and influenced him, this book is for you. Burgess knows Shakespeare like no other person.

I read this on the strength of Burgess' excellent bio of Joyce, RE: JOYCE, and I was rather disappointed. Yes, it includes some valuable historical background, but the sections on Shakespeare's life were speculative at best, and at worst factually wrong. For example, he writes:

"I feel that in the last years Shakespeare took music more seriously that he had been able to in his working days. . . . I see, or rather hear, the Shakespeare family sitting around the table in the drawing room of New Place, with one of those madrigal scores open before them. . . . Susanna, I think, was a clear soprano, a clever sight-reader. Judith had not much of a voice and was so slow at picking up a part that she became a dumb listener. Hall, the son-in-law, was a bass. Anne was a grave contralto. Will was certainly a tenor." (252)

Entertaining perhaps. But based on what historical evidence? None. Pure speculation. Unfortunately, such passages are all too typical.

More seriously, Burgess perpetuates several myths about Shakespeare that have been completely discredited. Burgess claims that Shakespeare's father was a Puritan (20). In fact, documentary evidence has proved that his father was a Catholic. Burgess claims that "Ann Whateley of Temple Grafton" was a real person, when it is well-established that this is a scribal error for Anne Hathaway, Shakespeare's wife (57). Burgess also repeats the myth that Anne Hathaway was an "spinster" (at 26!), desperate to get married, who tricked Shakespeare into getting married by getting herself pregnant by him (57-8). Again, where's the evidence? Burgess presents the allegations of the "Baines libel" about Marlowe as historical fact (101), when Baines and Kyd had reasons of self-interest to repeat and exaggerate the rumors swirling around Marlowe, after he died and was unable to defend himself. Burgess also perpetuates the myth that Shakespeare wrote "his plays straight off, without drafts." In fact, the several, quite different, published versions of his plays may well represent different drafts. And the long playscripts of the folio must have been abridged for performance, probably by Shakespeare himself.

The student who reads Burgess's biography is in danger of making a fool out of him or herself by repeating these out-dated Shakespeare myths. There are better alternatives, especially Park Honan's excellent bio, or Stephen Greenblatt's recent WILL IN THE WORLD.

I came into a fine hardcover copy of this book at the Toronto Public Library book sale. It beats me why it was being discarded. I would think for lack of interest from the library-goers of Toronto? The card at the back says it was last taken out on February 10, 1975 by a Grade 9 student!

This Shakespeare biography, from Anthony Burgess no less, offers an excellent view on the life of the Bard. My family received as a gift The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (leatherbound, gilt-edged, illustrated, Chatham River Press). Burgess's biography complements the Complete Works only too perfectly.

This first edition is filled with excellent illustrations, paintings, woodcuts, engravings and drawings. Certainly a treasure to keep for decades more.

I read this book and thought it was pretty good but not as wonderful as everyone says. I don't have any complaints but it didn't seem extraordinary. Read it if you are interested in the subject (I am!) but it will not capture you if your interest is only mild.

My copy was even missing a page (page #57/58). Why knows why?

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 digress 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 could hardly 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.

Anthony Burgess's biography of Shakespeare makes for riveting reading. However, the reader arguably learns more about Queen Elizabeth and the Earl of Essex than about the elusive Mr. Shakespeare.

In fact, Shakespeare makes only occasional and shadowy appearances in this bio as if he were the ghost of Hamlet's father (which he is, in a sense). Burgess doesn't hesitate to put his own stylish and imaginative spin on what little we know about Shakespeare, though if he were to shed any more light the shadow would disappear.

Nevertheless, by coupling his considerable breadth of learning with documentary evidence, Burgess manages to accomplish what I think he sets out to accomplish in writing this book - that upon completion the reader will say with certainty, "Shakespeare did exist."

Recently I decided to try and learn something about Shakespeare. So I have made up a reading list and posted the 20 plus books in a "Listmania" list. I am making my way through the list and actually started with this particular book first.

This is an excellent introduction to the life of William Shakespeare covering his life almost year by year from birth in Stratford around 1564 through to his death in Stratford in 1616. The book is quite general and describes his family, his wife, his children, his investments, life in London, the famines, the plagues, the theatres, Queen Elizabeth, the transition to King James, etc. It does not go into any detail on the plays - but paints a broader picture. The main fault that you might be aware of with this book is that occasionally there is speculation substituted or inserted as fact. So it is hard to know what is fact and what is fiction. But I get the impression that overall it is not far off.

One thing not understood widely about William Shakespeare was that he was gifted and energetic playwright while being a good businessman. There were about a dozen well know play writers in his day. Unlike many other artists, he was able to create fine works while making a lot of money so he had a certain degree of independence along with admiration both from the general public and the English nobles and patrons. Some of the other writers had to "dumb down" there work to try and broaden their appeal to draw an audience. But he seems to have avoided that syndrome. He was almost an instant success at the Rose theater in London around 1590 and he stood above all his contemporaries including Marlow and Ben Johnson.

The book does an excellent job of communicating the life and times both political and also covers some of the more common mundane details about life in England and London during that period. Interestingly there is lots of factual information from Stratford and London and on the Rose, and the Globe theaters still available in court records and general accounting ledgers kept while the business were in operation from roughly 1590 to 1613, the date the Globe burned to the ground. Shakespeare was in his prime roughly from1590 (starting at the Rose then making the transition to the new Globe - where he had a financial interest in 1598 approx). He wrote through the time of the transition from Queen Elizabeth to King James (1603), and then he tapered off.

Shakespeare retired around 1610 buying land around his native Stratford, and died in 1616. His last 10-12 years of writing were mainly at the Globe, and in fact some manuscripts were lost in the fire of 1613 at the Globe. Shakespeare died in 1916 and left small gifts to two associates Hemings and Condell among others. In 1623 these two published the "First Folio" a collection of all of Shakespeare's plays except for two plays. This publication contained a note from Ben Johnson. This Folio was put together by theatre men from "The Kings Men" - the name of the actors doing his plays for Shakespeare, so the book contains the closest texts of the plays available, with no alterations by professional editors.

This is an entertaining and excellent read on his personal life and what he was doing and thinking, and the political climate, as each play was written. Anthony Burgess keeps our attention, provides lots of details, and relates the life of Shakespeare to his works in a masterful chronological tale. This book is more of an "estimate" or guess of his biography, mostly fact, but with some fiction added. It is weak on an analysis of his works but that was not the intent of the book.

Recommended reading: "Will in the World" by Stephen Greenblatt.