Customer Reviews

Shakespeare: The Evidence : Unlocking the Mysteries of the Man and His Work

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Being a Shakespearean actor, I am very interested in consuming any information concerning the bard from critiques of the plays and sonnets to varied information about his life. Usually though its a chore to ponder through overblown scholarly disertaions on the works that totally ignore the dimension of the presentation and performance. Even more so with dull biographers who grapple with sparse facts on Shakespeare's life and who eventually draw a very incomplete view of the man. That all changed in reading this book! Ian Wilson paints the most complete portrait of the bard that I have ever read. Piecing together bits of direct and surrounding evidence, selections of the plays and political intriques of the time Wilson writes an exciting narrative that reads more like a screenplay then a dissertation. I found myself dieing to know what happend next as his life unfolded. Here Shakespeare appears as a true Human being and not the stuff of half baked legend and places emotion and motivation behind the writing of the plays. It describes in detail his dealings with the high members of the court of England, rising through the ranks of the theatrical world and gives a poignant glimpse into the man himself and dispels any allusion to the authorship question, especially from Edward De Vere. Given the success of "Shakespeare in Love", Hollywood should take this book and fashion a mini-series on his life. There is more than enough drama and mystery in these pages for three films. Definitely a great read for any scholar or Shakespearean actor that seek to relish the rich legacy that Will left to our culture.

It is indeed unfortunate that this book is not available. Keep trying! It is well worth it! Simply the best book on Shakespeare, The Man, I have ever read. Wilson's research is awesome and his feel for his subject is highly sensitive. Also, anyone who is curious about whether Shakespeare was a "secret" Catholic will find this book chock-full of information on that question.

-- David Nava
Associate Artistic Director
Shakespeare's Motley Crew
Chicago, IL

Books on Shakespeare roughly seem to fall into two categories: Standard scholarly books that downplay the man and focus on the plays and ingenious, entertianing books by frequently learned amateurs of anti-stratfordian theories of authorship. Anti-stratfordians have an advantage with the popular reading public; whereas academics are content to deal with texts as if they have no referents, laypeople necessarily have to ask (as William Paley said in his "natural theology) what kind of man wrote these plays. Anti-stratfordians are all too willing to oblige.

Furthermore the field is fairly well uncontested as practically all academics consider anti-stratfordian theories as beneath their contempt. This is a shame because generally they are entirely worthy of contempt. Ian Wilson is educated amateur, with the sort of background one associates with anti-stratfordians. He summarizes and interprets the available evidence and comes to some remarkable conclusions.

Best of all, his is not an "anti-anti-stratfordian rant" he concentrates on considering the "stratford man" not knocking other candidates. But the position of there being an "authorship problem" is made untenable. Particularly when read in conjuction with Matus' SHAKESPEARE IN FACT which addresses subsequent assessments of shakespeare (culminating in romantic "bardolatry") as well as a dissection of the claims for Oxford. This even though there are plenty of "arguably"'s, "almost certian"'s, "likely"'s that stud the text which the loyal opposition will make much of.

The one substantian objection is that Wilson argues for the likelihood of a position (for example the identity of the "dark lady") and then frequently treats it as establish fact. This is a chief vice of anti-strafordians A few more qualifiers would have enhanced the book's credibility.

I found this well-illustrated and well-researched book hard to put down. It reads like a detective novel. Like the title says, Mr. Wilson examines the evidence of Shakespeare's life and tries to construct a reasonable account of what probably, or what may have, happened. In doing so Mr. Wilson paints a vivid picture of what living in Elizabethan England was like; and that is what I liked most about this book.

And yet I also found this book flawed for two reasons and, therefore, somewhat lacking in credibility.

First: Mr. Wilson assumes that Southampton is the "beloved" young man of the sonnets. In doing so, the author dismisses and doesn't even consider the evidence that Pembroke maybe be the "beloved."

Second: This is most negative portrayal of Elizabeth I have ever read. Mr. Wilson paints her as being a complete tyrant toward Catholics, even though so many respected historians portray her as being moderate and reasonable.

To me it's a mystery why Mr. Wilson can't seem to acknowledge that England was close to a bloody, religious war, and that foreign and domestic forces were trying to overthrow Elizabeth.

(A civil war certainly would have put an end to Elizabethan theatre, and to Shakespeare's career as a playwright.)

Mr. Wilson doesn't offer any literary criticism of the plays; and that is fine with me. (There is so much criticism elsewhere.) Instead, we are treated to credible speculation about the current events that may have inspired Shakespeare to write certain plays.

This is a great book. It is easy to read and it is interesting. Mr. Wilson does not just write about Shakespear and give his theories, he provides reasoned arguments about those theories. Mr. Wilson also provides alternative arguments and alternative theories regarding Shakespear.

My only complaint? I'd like to see a list of the main people that are discussed with some clue as to their context. I say this because you will be introduced to someone on page 10 and not read about him again until page 87. A quick reference page would be very helpful in keeping everyone straight.

Otherwise, this is a great book.
Enjoy.

"Shakespeare: the Evidence" is a wonderful resource for anyone who is intrigued by William Shakespeare and the Elizabethan era, but becomes bogged down by dense research doctrines, or frustrated by conclusions drawn from sketchy evidence.

And yet Ian Wilson presents a staggering amount of research (including phtographs of contemporary paintings, maps and sketches). But because the book is written gracefully, and the form and pressure of the time are depicted in fascinating detail, it is a delicious read.

This is very well written account of what we know of Shakespeare's Life. Wilson makes a very persuasive case for Shakespeare as the author of the plays and sonnets. At times his reasoning becomes a little convoluted, but almost all books on subjects like this have some twistings in their reasoning. After reading this I would stand behind Shakespeare on the authorship debate, partly because there is no reason to believe that he did not write the plays. Jeff Anderson

This is a fascinating book, but I was dismayed by Wilson's anti-Elizabeth bias. He refers to her as a "hideous old woman" responsible for the death of "many worthy young people" like Mary Queen of Scots and the Earl of Essex. Worthy young people...those two? Mary Stuart was singularly lacking in common sense, and, after catching Mary red-handed plotting against her numerous times, Elizabeth had little choice politically but to execute her. As for Essex, he was a spoiled egomaniac who bit the hand that fed him. Wilson also does himself no service by referring to Robert Cecil as "the little secretary Cecil" or by repeating without caveat a discredited story about how Essex's ring was not given to Elizabeth.