William Shakespeare: A Popular Life (Applause Books) Review

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(More customer reviews)When I first found this book, I visited Amazon to look for reviews and recommendations.Finding none, I thought that I would offer my thoughts. I like O'Connor's approach.He does not wade through conflicting scholarlytheories or get bogged down analyzing obscure English public recordssearching from traces of Shakespeare.He makes use of what we know fromthe spare records of Shakespeare's life; and he extrapolates from his owninsights into the plays and his knowledge of the plays in their historicalcontext.O'Connor also makes use of a varied and extensivebibliography.
O'Connor puts the plays and the life of Shakespeare in thecontext of their time, and Shakespeare emerges as an astute, talented,subtle, and versatile man in a vibrant and turbulent time.We seeShakespeare as a contemporary Elizabethan who had his finger on the pulseof society but who was smart enough to keep his fingers out of the pie. O'Connor shows how Shakespeare also used theater as an outlet to expresspersonal struggles and discord.O'Connor's use of excerpts from the playsand sonnets illustrates this excellently.
One of the drawbacks of thebook is that O'Connor's tone is of an insider not only of the theatricalworld but also of Shakespeare's world.I got the sense that I am supposedto understand all of the obscure references and the oblique tongue-in-cheekquips.On a few occasions in the book when I got the reference, I couldnot tell if O'Connor was making a mistake or making a joke.He refers to anovelized interpretation of Shakespeare's love life by Anthony Burgess as"Brighter than the Sun," but the actual title is "NothingLike the Sun."It was difficult to tell if O'Connor was in error orif he was poking fun at the brilliant, stylized, and occasionally pedanticwriting of Burgess.O'Connor also suggests that in "King Lear,"it was not Lear who confused his Fool with Cordelia at the end of the play("And my poor fool is hanged"), but rather that the tired playwrightmixed-up the two characters because they were played by the sameactor.
Another drawback is the general style of writing.O'Connor'ssentences are often very long and complex.I found myself rereadingsentences more than twice in order to get his point.This drawback isminor and has much to do with the British style of punctuation, but it isalso obvious.
O'Connor presents assumptions about Shakespeare's familyrelationships that I can accept, in particular the relationships with hismother, father, wife, and son.These assumptions are based on the scanthistorical records, commentary by writers and actors, and excerpts from theplays and sonnets.O'Connor also writes that despite the opinion thatShakespeare did not reveal his personal beliefs in his plays, we really canknow Shakespeare through his writings.There are speeches and charactersthat exactly fit their places in the plays, and yet somehow they alsotranscend the context of the play and speak to us.Through these passageswe know the personal musings of Shakespeare.Perhaps that is the mostimportant thing of all, and that is a notion that definitely can be takenfrom O'Connor's book.

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