[ebooks] The Boy Who Would Be Shakespeare: A Tale of Forgery and Folly by Doug Stewart in Arts-Photography

Review

0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Well written and a good read.By MusicFan1964The critics were right. Doug Stewart has written historical fiction that reads like a novel. I enjoyed it very much.1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Absolutely wonderfulBy KateCI stumbled on this book and it turned out to be one of my favorite books of the year. It tells the simply amazing story of a 19-year-old forger who had all (well. almost all) of London fooled. The audacity and yet the charm of this insanely daring young man are astonishing and what he pulled off must be one of the great tales in literary history. By the time he copied out the entire text of King Lear and claimed it to be the original manuscript (leaving out the obscene bits to make it even more believably Shakespeares to the Bards 18th-century worshippers). I was laughing out loud. I loved how the author presented the deeper reason the hoax worked - that our boy gave people what they dearly wanted to believe. On top of that. the writing is a joy.. Anyone who loves Shakespeare will love this book. Highly recommended.4 of 4 people found the following review helpful. An audacious fraudBy W. DoyleIn "The Boy Who Would be Shakespeare" Doug Stewart tells the story of an 18th century teenager who forges minor and major works by Shakespeare so successfully that many believed the works to be genuine after William Henry Ireland had confessed to writing them himself. Stewarts engaging and accessible treatment delves into the reasons Ireland would attempt such an audacious fraud and the reasons so many. including the boys own father. would believe it. In doing so it also explores the fascinating story of how Shakespeare went from an obscure stage performer to "the Immortal Bard." It was only due to the fact the Shakespeare died in relative obscurity that 200 years later there was a dearth of information. and especially artifacts. about his life. leaving a cult of Shakespeare fans who were willing to tricked into believing that the gaps had been filled in. No matter that the facts dont quite make sense. the signatures dont match. and the poetry does not hold up to the genuine; the lost Shakespeare papers suddenly found in a mysterious trunk are the real thing. because we want them to be.Stewart successfully portrays the story as a reflection of its time. He describes an odd relationships between the members of the Ireland family. but then steps back to point out that as odd as these characters may appear. they were not that far off the norm for Georgian England. He shows major cultural and literary figures being duped by the Shakespeare manuscripts. but also depicts the voracious appetite of a culture that is just beginning to become fascinated with the minutiae of famous peoples lives.Perhaps more significantly Stewart is also telling a personal story. of a boy who sets out to create from scratch a treasured artifact to please his father. a man who was much more likely to praise a red velvet purse once owned by Ann Boleyn than he was his own son. Stewart shows great sympathy towards Irelands frustration at being dismissed by his father as "a boy of no promise" and his fathers refusal to believe him even capable of creating the forged documents.Though the book is well researched and there are thorough references to the sources of the story. Stewarts sympathy with William Henry Ireland. a confessed forger whose confession "if true proves him a liar." pushes this book more toward the popular than the scholarly history. As such it is a great story that would be a good recommendation for anyone interested in cultural and literary history.