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In a fast-paced, engaging narrative, Norwich chronicles the actual events of the 14th and 15th centuries that inspired Shakespeare's history plays, from the untimely death of the heroic Black Prince and Henry Bolingbroke's ousting of Richard II to the legendary Battle of Agincourt and the notorious 18-month reign of Richard III. Of full-color photos. In a sparkling, fast-paced narrative, esteemed historian John Julius Norwich chronicles the turbulent events of fourteenth and fifteenth century England that inspired Shakespeare's history plays. It was a time of uncertainty and incessant warfare, a time during which the crown was constantly contested, alliances were made and broken, and peasants and townsmen alike arose in revolt. This was the raw material of Shakespeare's dramas, and Norwich holds up his work to the light of history to ask: Who was the real Falstaff? How accurate a historian was the playwright? Shakespeare's Kings is a marvelous study of the bard's method of spinning history into art, and a captivating portrait of the Middle Ages.… (más)
This history of Shakespeare's Plantagenet kings contrasts the way the Bard told the stories with the way historians believe they actually happened. It praises Shakespeare's choices at times, recognizing his worth as a storyteller, and shining light on why he wrote his characters the way he did. ( )
I should have realized that the Norwich was the person to finally sort out the labyrinth twists and turns of the War of the Roses for me. He had after all tackled (previously) a thousand years of Venice, and of Byzantium, with breezy ease. In those other books he called upon the reader to visit the architecture and scenery associated with the events in history he related - giving the bare facts of history some color as it were. In 'Shakespeare's Kings' he doesn't so much use art, as artifice, to illustrate his story. Norwich demonstrates (after fully acquainting you with the detail of the real history) how Shakespeare would compress years (sometimes decades) into a few minutes on stage and a few lines of dialogue, yet do so brilliantly and while preserving the general flow of events. But after reading Norwich you realize that at almost no point do Shakespeare's dramatic effects come anywhere near the extraordinary cast of real characters and their (generally) diabolical behaviour. Such examples of true heroism, courage and dignity as there were only served to throw the misdeeds of others into harsher contrast.
This is very readable history that doesn't sacrifice any detail and is highly recommended for anyone who ever got stuck at the 15th Century, and for those who want to put some flesh on the bones of Shakespeare's accounts of those times. ( )
Información procedente del conocimiento común inglés.Edita para encontrar en tu idioma.
Shakespeare was the theatre's greatest craftsman: he wasted no tortured ratiocination on his plays. Instead he filled them with the gaudy heroes that all of us see ourselves becoming on some bright morrow, and the lowly frauds and clowns we are today.
H. L. Mencken
Dedicatoria
Información procedente del conocimiento común inglés.Edita para encontrar en tu idioma.
To Peter Carson, who for thirty years guided my hand and who gave me, with so much else, the idea for this book.
Primeras palabras
Información procedente del conocimiento común inglés.Edita para encontrar en tu idioma.
My own introduction to Shakespeare's history plays took place when I was fifteen, and was taken by my parents to see the two parts of King Henry IV, in consecutive matinée and evening performances, at the New Theatre in London.
Citas
Últimas palabras
Información procedente del conocimiento común inglés.Edita para encontrar en tu idioma.
The play was the thing; and if he could amuse, inspire and perhaps very modestly educate his audiences, that was enough. He did so, and he has continued to do so four four hundred years. He rests his case.
In a fast-paced, engaging narrative, Norwich chronicles the actual events of the 14th and 15th centuries that inspired Shakespeare's history plays, from the untimely death of the heroic Black Prince and Henry Bolingbroke's ousting of Richard II to the legendary Battle of Agincourt and the notorious 18-month reign of Richard III. Of full-color photos. In a sparkling, fast-paced narrative, esteemed historian John Julius Norwich chronicles the turbulent events of fourteenth and fifteenth century England that inspired Shakespeare's history plays. It was a time of uncertainty and incessant warfare, a time during which the crown was constantly contested, alliances were made and broken, and peasants and townsmen alike arose in revolt. This was the raw material of Shakespeare's dramas, and Norwich holds up his work to the light of history to ask: Who was the real Falstaff? How accurate a historian was the playwright? Shakespeare's Kings is a marvelous study of the bard's method of spinning history into art, and a captivating portrait of the Middle Ages.
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