Bill on the Bard

I have always held the conviction that you have to study the playwright because you are never likely to pick him up just for fun. But if you do want to tickle your funny bones, Bill Bryson is the one. He is sarcastic, humorous and has the bite of an English humorist. In short, the perfect choice to tackle a 8220;brief8221; biography of 8220;English8217;s greatest playwright8221; because you know that now at least he will come to you in a language you will understand.

You also realise right at the beginning that there is not much known about Shakespeare that can be put down as fact. In fact, Bryson tells you that no one is even sure if the man existed 8212; and if he did, he may not even be the writer. There are only three portraits that exist of Shakespeare and they don8217;t hold a lot of weight since two were made by artists long after his death and the third could well be of another man. Also, since Shakespeare refused to spell his name in the same manner 8212; favouring Willm Shaksp and Wm Shakspe, among others 8212; there is no way to verify his existence. Bryson hits the nail on the head when he describes him as a 8220;literary equivalent of an electron 8212; forever there and not there8221;.

It is clear that Bryson has not only done a lot of research but has also researched the existing research on the subject. He draws a fabulous image of England during that period and with his usual wit shares gems likes how beer drinking and blackened teeth were considered the norm in 16th century England. He also highlights some of the excess that has gone into researching the Bard. Apparently, Shakespeare8217;s work contains 1,38,198 commas, 26,794 colons and 15,785 question marks. And his characters refer to love 2,259 times but hate only 183 times.

It is evident that Bryson has got under the skin of his subject when he tells you in the same breath that while Shakespeare knew 29,066 different words, his genius lay in 8220;a positive and palpable appreciation of the transfixing power of language8221;. It seems that between 1500 and 1650 as many as 12,000 words entered the language and half of them are still in use. There was no better time for a man like Shakespeare to flourish.

The Eminent Lives series where the publisher pairs 8220;great subjects8221; with 8220;lively8221; writers is a wonderful approach to biographies. I certainly learnt more about Shakespeare than I could ever imagine but would I want to go out and read the Bard? I am not so sure. But I certainly would read more Bill Bryson.