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Is Shakespeare Dead? from My Autobiography
by
Mark Twain
This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curated for quality. Quality assurance was conducted on each of these books in an attempt to remove books with imperfections introduced by the digitization process. Though we have made best efforts - the books may have occasional errors that do not impede the reading experience. We believe this work is culturally importan
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Hardcover
,
158 pages
Published
September 22nd 2009
by BiblioLife
(first published 1908)
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Community Reviews
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Mark Twain takes up the the age old debate: whether Shakespeare wrote Shakespeare. With his typical humor and frank nature, Twain presents the evidence forth. But in the treatment of the study, I find myself unable to focus on the important (Shakespeare) since Twain starts to present a lot of things about his own upbringing. When he starts comparing himself to Shakespeare, any trace of scholarly expectations I had were gone, but I kept reading since his arguments are so lovely to hear at times a
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"I only
believed
Bacon wrote Shakespeare, whereas I
knew
Shakespeare didn’t." This is Twain's essential premise. We may not be able to prove conclusively who wrote the works that bear Shakespeare's name (though Francis Bacon gets Twain's vote), but given the facts, any thinking, "reasoning" (a word too often misappropriated by the Stratfordians, according to Twain) person can rule out William Shakespeare completely. If you want to enter the fray on the authorship controversy, this may not be the
...more
I loved recording this book, and was flattered to read Kevin McDonnell's review in The Mark Twain Forum; here's an excerpt: "(Henzel) maintains a mild but steady Twain presence, with a soft drawl, appropriate pauses and phrasings, and pleasant modulations. He moves the text along in a convincing first-person voice without resorting to the exaggerated cornpone twang that might distract his listeners from Twain's message."
Very entertaining discussion of the Shakespeare authorship question from an "Baconist" point of view.
He makes some good points.
1. The Plays and the Poetry are too good for someone of the Stratford-upon-Avon origins attributed to William Shakespeare. And too good for the fellow who scratched out "Good Friend for Iesus sake ... moves my bones" for his tomb.
2. There is too much missing biography and too little time in London to acquire the author's many accomplishments while also scraping out a li ...more
He makes some good points.
1. The Plays and the Poetry are too good for someone of the Stratford-upon-Avon origins attributed to William Shakespeare. And too good for the fellow who scratched out "Good Friend for Iesus sake ... moves my bones" for his tomb.
2. There is too much missing biography and too little time in London to acquire the author's many accomplishments while also scraping out a li ...more
This book is not at all what I expected from famed satirist Mark Twain.
I was expecting something fairly witty and light, and the book did start out like that but then it quickly descended into this long rant about how there wasn't any evidence William of Stratford was the Shakespeare who wrote the famed Plays and Poems. Mr. Twain seems to think that we just blindly accept the Stratford chap out of blind tradition and superstition. But I say to him that Will Shakespeare penned Shakespeare, I know ...more
I was expecting something fairly witty and light, and the book did start out like that but then it quickly descended into this long rant about how there wasn't any evidence William of Stratford was the Shakespeare who wrote the famed Plays and Poems. Mr. Twain seems to think that we just blindly accept the Stratford chap out of blind tradition and superstition. But I say to him that Will Shakespeare penned Shakespeare, I know ...more
Shakespeare didn't write Shakespeare. I think he's right, and he doesn't fail to entertain. A more scholarly treatment on the subject is Shakespeare's Unorthodox Biography by Diana Price.
Really enjoyed this book. Twain is supremely sarcastic and well-informed on the subject of the true authorship of Shakespeare's works. Very fun read.
I chose this book after seeing a great stage impersonation of Mark Twain expounding on his question of who really wrote the Shakespeare plays and poems. His comparison of this question to the question and validity of the Bible was hilarious, and much of it was word for word taken from this book. It was probably written before the Duke of Oxford became the prime possibility as the actual author, but Twain included him as one of several candidates for that honor. I would recommend "Is Shakespeare
...more
I was intrigued by this book originally when reading some criticism and praise of it. As a satire, the book sounded like an interesting attack on just about all of the Shakespeare arguments as well as our tendency as a culture to try to overanalyze things. Sounds good, right? Unfortunately, the book didn't quite come off like that to me.
Is Shakespeare Dead didn't just come off as a misinformed argument in favor of Baconian authorship, but it also came off as just... a rushed and jumbled essay th ...more
Is Shakespeare Dead didn't just come off as a misinformed argument in favor of Baconian authorship, but it also came off as just... a rushed and jumbled essay th ...more
Are facts facts?
An exploration of the authorship of Shakespeare's works: the Shakespeare- Bacon controversy. Twain knows how to make such an exploration interesting with his sarcastic humor. He comes with facts and surmises, and however it is clear to which side Twain is tending to, his own remarks held controversies within themselves as well:
"...when principle and personal interest found themselves in opposition to each other and a choice had to be made: I let principle go, and went to the oth ...more
An exploration of the authorship of Shakespeare's works: the Shakespeare- Bacon controversy. Twain knows how to make such an exploration interesting with his sarcastic humor. He comes with facts and surmises, and however it is clear to which side Twain is tending to, his own remarks held controversies within themselves as well:
"...when principle and personal interest found themselves in opposition to each other and a choice had to be made: I let principle go, and went to the oth ...more
A friend recommended I read this book. I'm not a big fan of Mark Twain and I guess I would also say that I am not a fan of the various theories that Shakespeare wasn't written by Shakespeare because X Y Z reasons. Therefore, I was not really a fan of this book. The best criticism of Shakespeare =/= Shakespeare theories is that they seem to find it impossible that someone from a lower class background could ever write something so lasting and important to culture (isn't it crazy?!?!), which is ju
...more
Mark Twain offers his thoughts on whether Shakespeare was really the author of his plays. This starts out really good. I particularly liked the part where he talks about the necessity of experience in order to write about a topic well. Also, the part where he talks about his time on the Mississippi River with a captain who loved Shakespeare is interesting. At about the halfway point, this piece starts to ramble, though.
This is a very short book, but a hilariously funny account of the Shakespeare authorship question through the filter of the inimitable Mark Twain. He doesn't know who DID write the plays, but he's pretty certain who didn't.
This is not really "Is Shakespeare Dead" because he certainly is but who wrote Shakespeare's works? Twain makes a very interesting and plausible argument that Francis Bacon could have been the author, because there is no evidence that Shakespeare had any legal training and whoever wrote the works would virtually had to have been working as a lawyer (at some point in his life) to have such an indepth knowledge of English law and use legal jargon so extensively throughout his works.
It certainly ma ...more
It certainly ma ...more
At first the points Twain makes are feasible but on reading further, his arguments are disproved by other authors (Andrew Lang, Sidney Lee). His main argument seems to be that a young man who spent his time holding horses outside a theatre would have no time to write plays. This seems to me to be the main argument against Bacon being the author, surely he was one of the busiest men of the age, being a scientist, serious author, lawyer and politician! A very interesting read though.
A thoughtful and interesting essay (does this qualify as an essay?) which is just as much about questioning traditions as it is about whether or not Francis Bacon was really the author of Shakepeare's plays -- and quite frankly, I could care less about the latter, but Twain delivered well. Strangely enough, begins with a great section about Satan.
Nicely written. What I expect from Mark Twain. Hated the subject material. They said semi-autobiographical. But I was hoping for more than semi, I think.
I don't care much about who wrote the Shakespeare plays.
I don't care much about who wrote the Shakespeare plays.
Hard to tell who wrote Shakespeare
Certainly helped wake up my brain with it's syntax and arguments against the authorship question. While Twain says that Bacon MIGHT not be the author of the works credited to Shakespeare, he's definitely a more credible suspect than William Shakespeare of Stratford. Still, regardless of how strong his arguments, it's hard to throw centuries of claims that Shakespeare WAS the Bard.
While I was already somewhat familiar with the "Shakespeare Controversy" over who actually wrote the works attributed to the Bard, Twain's handling of the topic (and he's clearly in the anti-Stratford camp) is as entertainingly biting as one would expect from the man who quipped: If you hold a cat by the tail you learn things you cannot learn any other way.
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A captivating little book that outlines Mark Twain's response to the Shakespeare-Bacon debate. Sarcasm is rife, but at no point is he disparaging of either side of the argument. He makes his views on the 'who wrote it' saga pretty clear early on and then presents his reasons for them. The book is finished off with an overview of Twain's life and works.
I enjoyed this narration by Richard Henzel. He has a great voice which seems appropriate to Mark Twain's writing. He is a one man Mark Twain audio powerhouse. He also posts on the Goodreads Audiobook group and offers free samples from time to time, which is how I got this book.
http://www.richardhenzel.com/marktwai...
http://www.richardhenzel.com/marktwai...
Con su guasa y saber hacer Twain expone sus dudas sobre la autoría de las obras de Shakespeare.
May 10, 2013
MiChAeLPaUl
marked it as fini
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
e-books
,
non-fiction
Will the real "Will Shake-Speare" please stand up.
Jan 12, 2009
Douglas Wilson
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
literary-study
Fun.
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Samuel Langhorne Clemens
, better known by his pen name
Mark Twain
, was an American author and humorist. He is noted for his novels
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
(1885), called "the Great American Novel", and
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
(1876).
Twain grew up in Hannibal, Missouri, which would later provide the setting for Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer . He apprenticed with a printer. He also work ...more
More about Mark Twain...
Twain grew up in Hannibal, Missouri, which would later provide the setting for Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer . He apprenticed with a printer. He also work ...more
