WHO WAS SHAKESPEARE?: The Man -- The Times -- The Works

by Robin May ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 29, 1974

An airy nothing of a book in terms of scholarship, but full of good humor and pleasant marginalia. There is a fairly sensible replay of the sparse biographical facts, a rapid tickoff of the Bacon and Marlowe factions, and photographic reproductions of this and that (from the Hathaway Cottage to Brando as Mark Antony). May is at his likable best when flashing his favorite passages and incidental intelligences: a jovial Elizabethan equivalent for ""groundlings"" was ""stinkards""; and it was Colly Cibber who contributed that bracing line from Richard III: ""Off with his head. So much for Buckingham"" in flawless iambic pentameter. A summary of plays with dates and sources, chronological lists, a genealogical table, etc. Hardly a flinty study but matter for an amusing May morning on the Avon.

Pub Date: Jan. 29, 1974

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: St. Martin's

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1974

Categories: NONFICTION