He showed hesitation over a tit-bit, which she had thought was her culinary masterpiece. The very first test came while his wife served him his morning meal. It was a quiet resolve, a secret pact between him and eternity. The day ahead seemed to him full of possibilities. This day he set apart as unique day – at least one day in a year we must give and take absolute Truth whatever may happen. He realized that, morning till night, the essence of human relationships consisted in tempering truth so that it might not shock. I suppose no human being can ever look it straight in the face without blinking or being dazed. Being Burgess, he also plays around with language, using – not very successfully in my opinion – his idea of Shakespearean language throughout the book.Truth, Sekhar reflected, is like the sun. However, he does offer glimpses of the how and why of various scenes and characters of the plays and poems as well as contemporary reactions. Eventually he buys New Place, one of the most sumptuous houses in Stratford, but stays in London for some time to come.īurgess is primarily concerned with Shakespeare the man and his lusty life, as the cover of my copy of the book so aptly puts it. Much of his time is spent chasing other women including, in particular, the woman he is particularly attached to (called Fatimah in this book), clearly meant to be the unidentified Dark Lady of the Sonnets, whom Burgess mocks and who gives Shakespeare syphilis (also unproven). When he is called back when his son, Hamnet, is dying, he hesitates and then arrives back too late. Though they have three children (two twins), they seem to spend little time together as Shakespeare goes off to London on his own, leaving his wife and children behind. He starts off with a fling with a local lass but then marries Anne Hathaway when she is pregnant.

We follow his adventures from being an apprentice glove-maker through his literary success to his death. His is Burgess’ homage to Shakespeare, portraying Shakespeare as a likely lad, interested as much in wenching and boozing as writing his plays and poetry. Home » England » Anthony Burgess » Nothing like the Sun Anthony Burgess: Nothing like the Sun

Nothing like the sun novel