He may well be the most famous Englishman of all time, yet he remains a man of mystery.    More words may have been written about him and his work than any non-religious figure in history, but we know next to nothing about his actual life.  In Shakespeare: the World as Stage, author Bill Bryson attempts to shed some light on the life of William Shakespeare, striving to separate the facts from the myth and fabrication. 

Bill Bryson - most famous for his humorous travel books and A Short History of Nearly Everything - wrote Shakespeare as a contribution to the Eminent Lives Series presented by Harper Collins publishing.   I was quite skeptical of Bryson's ability to fit the distinguished and serious role of Shakespeare biographer, given that I had previously only considered him a very talented, comedic writer.   I was most pleasantly surprised.

"Shakespeare's works contain 138,198 commas..."

 Starting with the fact that we really can't be sure what he even looked like, Bryson pieces together the few fragments that researchers have uncovered - mainly from court and legal documents - and attempts to tell Shakespeare's life story.   Starting with his childhood, his marriage and subsequent transition to London, Bryson strives to piece together a coherent narrative based mainly on speculation and assumption, given that there isn't much else to go on.  The few facts and documents that do exist don't actually provide much assistance when the goal is to find out what the bard was really like as a person.   Bryson goes to great pains to clearly delineate between actual facts, reasonable assumptions and unbridled speculation and manages to keep the narrative flowing despite this daunting obstacle.    Much of the conjecture is based on the known history of Elizabethan England and is solid, but not specifically linked to Shakespeare himself.   In nine chronological chapters, the reader is treated to plenty of interesting discussion of the educational and legal systems of the time, life in London and the explosive growth of her theater scene thanks to Shakespeare and his equally prolific colleagues.

"All together, more than fifty candidates have been suggested as possible alternative Shakespeares."

The best of the chapters is the last one, exploring the many conspiracy theories regarding the actual creator of Shakespeare's plays.  Bryson discusses the history of various "anti-Stratfordian" hypotheses in detail and dispatches them with style.   He finishes with a rather convincing argument supporting Shakespeare's authorship using some clever linguistic forensics that I found fascinating.

"Whether or not it was necessary to pronounce all the letters in a word - such as the ks in knight and knee - was a hot issue."

Bryson writes in the same humorous and easily readable style that I've found in his other books.  He moves the story rapidly along with plenty of energy and I actually found it hard to put down; not something I usually expect when reading about history or Shakespeare.   The 200 pages flew by quickly and I was instantly looking around for Bryson's next biography; maybe another playwright like Christopher Marlowe or Ben Johnson, or how about Queen Elizabeth herself.   Bryson definitely has the knack.

"We know also that she [Anne Hathaway] had three children with William Shakespeare, but all the rest is darkness.   We know nothing about the couple's relationship - whether they bickered constantly or were eternally doting.  We don't know if she ever accompanied him to London, saw any of his plays, or even took an interest in them.  We have no indication of any warmth between them - but then we have no indication of warmth between William Shakespeare and any other human being."

In Shakespeare: the World as Stage, Bryson does an impressive job of telling us what little we do know, relating what many dozens of actual and self-proclaimed "experts" think and adroitly encapsulating the whole mess into a tight, enjoyable read.  I give it a strong recommendation for anyone with even a small interest in the bard and his times and I expect that even someone who's read all there is about the man - no small task, and definitely not me - would enjoy Bryson's personal touch. 

Recommended: Yes