ideale per gli amanti del genere

Lo dico subito: non è il tipo di libro per me: il voto non altissimo dipende da questo, perché il libro di per sé è fatto molto bene. Io sono un tipo molto impressionabile, e leggere tutti i modi in cui si può morire, e soprattutto cosa succede mentre si muore in quei modo, spesso era davvero troppo. Se però non avete lo stomaco debole questo libro è davvero una miniera di informazioni su tante cose. La vita di Shakespeare, per quel poco che ne conosciamo; la vita in Inghilterra e soprattutto a Londra a cavallo del XVII secolo, con le epidemie di peste che sconquassavano la vita cittadina; ma principalmente come funzionava il mondo delle compagnie teatrali e come si potevano mettere "in scena" tutti questi tipi di omicidio (non lo si faceva: dopo le ultime battute l'attore usciva di scena e il pubblico sapeva per convenzione cosa succedeva). Harkup mi pare davvero infatuata di Shakespeare, dandogli molti più crediti sulla conoscenza della fisiologia umana di quanti egli probabilmente avesse, anche tenuto conto che suo genero era un medico; ma a parte questo, il suo lavoro di ricerca è davvero completo. La traduzione di Davide Fassio è scorrevole. ( )

Death by Shakespeare: Snakebites, Stabbings, and Broken Hearts by Kathryn Harkup is a 2020 Bloomsbury SIGMA publication.

Incredibly Fascinating!

I am nowhere close to being an expert on Shakespeare, knowing the bare basics at best. Yet, when this book popped up on my radar, I thought it sounded interesting.

This book is a well-researched, detailed study of the various means in which Shakespeare killed off his characters, and how historically and scientifically authentic those death scenes were, compared to the knowledge we have at our disposal today.

While Shakespeare is known for both comedies and tragedies, high drama, intrigue, romance and heartbreak, as we well know, death sells, and Shakespeare provided plenty of it. There were executions, battles, poisonings, plagues, and suicides, to name a few.

I’m not sure how often the authenticity or accuracy of Shakespeare’s death scenes have been questioned or scrutinized over the years, but this author has taken the Herculean task to heart, and her findings are quite surprising.

So, how well did the Bard do? Was he way of course, or astonishingly close to the mark?

Well, you’ll have to read the book to find out. I will give you a few hints, though. Shakespeare did have a few sources at his disposal, providing him with inside information on various subjects, which did help add legitimacy to his writing.

On the other hand, he was woefully off base in some cases- but one also should consider that some scenes were embellished upon by the stage performers, more for dramatic effect than for accuracy.

I’m wondering how many people are taught this information when studying Shakespeare. If they are not, they are missing out on some of the finer points of his writing. People living in the 1500s may have taken things at face value, but they did have the advantage of fully understanding some of the little inside jokes- and I’m not sure how aware the modern student might be of the full context of those nuances.

Overall, trust me, you don’t have to know a lot about Shakespeare, or even like Shakespeare to enjoy this book. The science is a big promotional point, I’ve noticed, and I agree the author really did pay attention to detail and it is obvious she knows her stuff. For me, though, the history is what appealed to me the most.

Because of the subject matter one might think this book is a bit morbid, and yes, there are some pretty lurid and gross descriptions and details included in the book. Despite that, I learned a great many things I might never have discovered otherwise, and the presentations was actually quite entertaining!

I don’t recall how I stumbled across this book, but I’m very glad I did!

4 stars ( )

In this mix of history, science, and literature, Kathryn Harkup takes us on a tour of Shakespeare's works focusing entirely on the deaths and the science behind them. After a brief introduction to Shakespeare and his times, she explores the familiar relationship people of the Elizabethan era had with death in its many forms and then delves into the major types of death in Shakespeare's works. Whether she's exploring the explosion of syphilis in the 1500s, what actually kills someone when they're strangled, or if it's possible for someone to die of grief, Harkup's writing is understandable for the layperson and downright fascinating if you're into slightly macabre facts. For those people who find themselves at the centre of the Venn diagram of Shakespeare fans and fans of Mary Roach's Stiff. Also, if you're looking for a table outlining every character who dies and how in Shakespeare's works, you're going to love the appendix to this book. ( )

Rating of 4.95. Excellent discussion of Death in the Context of Shakespeare's plays and what his fellow citizens experienced living in Tudor London. The only thing missing, for me at least, was photos of staged plays to accompany discussion of the various types of death. ( )

"Death By Shakespeare: Snakebites, Stabbings and Broken Hearts," by Kathryn Harkup, is what it says it is: a book about all the ways in which William Shakespeare killed off characters in his plays and sonnets. Ms. Harkup, a chemist, first describes the Bard’s life and times, and then moves on to how he could have come to know about the effects of certain types of death (i.e., how some poisons work, or what kinds of methods the state used to execute people - something everyone in his time would have known because executions were common and public) and whether some of his more fanciful killings could be effective. Ms. Harkup writes in a lively style, bringing in quotes from the plays and then dissecting them. There are extensive bottom-of-the-page notes to add more context to the main text, as well as a useful appendix in which she lists all of the killed characters in each play and the means of their deaths. There are no academic notes, but she does include a very extensive bibliography that includes material from Shakespeare’s own time right up through to our present, with particular emphasis on medical discoveries made in the 1800s. I found the book a fascinating read, but must warn that it is full of graphic descriptions of gory, disgusting deaths, so it is definitely not for the faint of heart! ( )