Books: Insomnia and the Curse of the Bard's Biographers ; William Shakespeare: His Life and Work by Anthony Holden Little, Brown Pounds 20

Ryan, Kiernan, The Independent (London, England)

In Holy Trinity Church in Stratford, beneath the cartoon bust of the Bard that makes him look (as Anthony Burgess observed) like a "self-satisfied pork-butcher", lie the mortal remains of the Man of the Millennium. The epitaph reads: "Good frend for Jesus sake forbeare, / To digg the dust enclosed heare: / Bleste be ye man that spares these stones, / And curst be he that moves my bones." At least Shakespeare's biographers can't say that they weren't warned. His curse has fallen on every attempt to breathe life back into those bones, and this latest stab at animating them is no exception.

The curse dooms the biographer of the Bard to shroud the fact that we know next to …

Questia, a part of Gale, Cengage Learning. www.questia.com
Publication information: Article title: Books: Insomnia and the Curse of the Bard's Biographers ; William Shakespeare: His Life and Work by Anthony Holden Little, Brown Pounds 20. Contributors: Ryan, Kiernan - Author. Newspaper title: The Independent (London, England). Publication date: November 14, 1999. Page number: 10. © 2009 The Independent - London. Provided by ProQuest LLC. All Rights Reserved.

This material is protected by copyright and, with the exception of fair use, may not be further copied, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means.