Shakespeare: The World as a Stage

《別跟山過不去》的作者比爾布萊森(Bill Bryson)為初識莎士比亞的讀者所寫的莎翁傳記，本書也成為作者的另一部經典之作。一般讀者對莎士比亞所知不多，Bill Bryson承認他也是。所以他決定檢視數世紀以來關於莎翁半真半假的迷思。他遊走莎翁時代的街道，將那些給予莎翁無數靈感的地點與人物，也就是伊莉莎白女王時期的英國，活生生地呈現在讀者面前。作者列舉莎翁在語言上的創新，帶給我們許多至今仍然使用的重要詞彙與片語。他更頌讚了在文學、文化與歷史中的吟遊詩人傳統。從大量的史料中，細數史上最出名也最謎樣的人物之一：莎士比亞的其人其作。Bill Bryson在書中寫到：「《李爾王》有一行重要的對話，莎翁把這個角色的名字簡寫成"Cor."，但我們無法得知，這個簡寫指的是Cornwall還是Cordelia，因為兩者都行得通，但也都為這齣戲投下了陰影，這個議題自劇本完成後，一直困擾著眾導演們。」由這段話可以看出，作者從一些鮮少為人所注意的細節中，展現他幽默的觀察，他一貫詼諧的文字貫穿了整部作品。From bestselling author Bill Bryson comes this compelling short biography of William Shakespeare, our greatest dramatist and poet.Examining centuries of myths, half-truths and downright lies, Bill Bryson makes sense of the man behind the masterpieces. As he leads us through the crowded streets of Elizabethan England, he brings to life the places and characters that inspired Shakespeare’s work. Along the way he delights in the inventiveness of Shakespeare’s language, which has given us so many of the indispensable words and phrases we use today, and celebrates the Bard’s legacy to our literature, culture and history.Drawing together information from a vast array of sources, this is a masterful account of the life and works of William Shakespeare, one of the most famous and most enigmatic people ever to have lived – not to mention a classic piece of Bill Bryson.