Robert Nye (1939–2016)

At the heart, or should I say in the bosom, of Merlin is the following: "Perhaps it is the source of the magic I know already. For here is some root at the dark root of all -- an erotic nerve below everything, a source for all manner of imaginations and enchantments." This supplies Nye with all the rationale he needs to bust loose with all the "erotic" (if one defines that as somewhere midway between bawdy and pornographic) and imaginative extravagance he can pack into 200 pages. A book that show more starts with a version of the harrowing of hell that depicts Christ as a dancing monkey with a purple jacket, accompanied by cymbal-playing Virgin Mary who distracts Satan and his minions with lust and wine, is a book that will go just about anywhere. All good fun, though, and there's at least one genuine belly laugh to be had. show less

Robert Nye was brought to my attention by B S Johnson who included a list of writers who were, in his opinion, advancing the art of writing in his monograph Aren't You Rather Young To Be Writing Your Memoirs (well worth a read if you can find a copy). Since reading the BS Johnson I have always carried a copy of the list in my wallet and have now ticked off all the writers.
Nye's early work was promising and slightly experimental but for a few years he dropped off of my radar until I saw a show more copy of The Late Mr Shakespeare on the grubby shelves of a second hand shop in Xania. It seems he has found a way forward all of his own and that he has written quite a bit since last I read him.
The Late Mr Shakespeare, let me make perfectly clear, is a wonderful read. It is the concept that is experimental/groundbreaking and not the prose nor the style. Nye relates a litany of stories about Shakespeare, his life and times from the viewpoint of an actor from his Globe troop. Our narrator, PickleHerring is writing, after Shakespeare's death to fend off his own. Pickleherring is a gossip and an unreliable source - he treats fact and rumour with an even hand and while doing so he reveals more about himself than he does about his subject.
He is humorous, low and knowledgeable. He writes flowingly and elegantly. He covers major facts of Shakespeares life with gusto and in doing so gives you a better grip on Shakespeare and his work and genius than is to be had from dry and dusty biographies. Is it Pickleherring or Nye we are listening to?
I care not a jot. This is worth anybody's time and requires no effort at all. Read it and enjoy it. Personally I shall be looking for a copy of Mrs Shakepseare! show less

An absolute delight, I adore Robert Nye. This is one of a trilogy of Shakespeare novels he published, the others being Falstaff and Mrs. Shakespeare: The Complete Works.

It's interesting to look, many years later, at the elements of Nye's story that have become part of the standard Shakespeare narrative by 2016 (Lucy Negro? good pull, Mr Nye!) but must have been far more speculative when this was written. Many chapters of this book will be enjoyable to the average reader but only take on show more resonance if you are a Shakespeare fanatic, with seemingly hundreds of quotes from the plays often well hidden in the text, plenty of factual information as well as plenty of hilariously made-up business, and a fair number of astounding suggestions as to the relationship between Shakespeare's life and his work. I have to say, in all my years, I have never read a series of theories so completely believable. Nye is right on the money, I would argue, but he's built himself an (obscene, so very obscene!) elaborate narrative justification for any of the times that he is completely wrong. We'll never know most of the answers to the questions Nye asks, so I'm happy to take his answers. An hilarious, filthy, lived-in, mournful novel. show less

One of three novels on Shakespeare written by Mr. Nye (the others being the highly-regarded Falstaff and the delightful The Late Mr. Shakespeare), this is perhaps the least of the three, although I still enjoyed it. Written as a diary entry from the point of view of Shakespeare's wife Anne, after his death, the work is highly irreverent and profane, and often interested in presenting the thoroughly human side of this often deified writer. Sometimes, this goal obscures anything else the novel show more seems to want to do, and perhaps the fact that the entire book is a diary of one person's perspective makes it a tad repetitive. Some readers - probably mostly Americans - will struggle with some of the gleeful profanity, and perhaps even just the dismantling of the modern era's apotheosis of the Bard.

At the same time, I really enjoyed this work, particularly with its attempt to somewhat redeem Anne. There remains an unusual critical distaste for the woman, with the popular view for decades being that the Bard was tricked into marriage, or disliked his home life. There's plenty to argue otherwise, and Nye allows us to believe most all of the other rumours about Will (from the fair youth of the Sonnets to some fundamental marital disconnects) without completely sacrificing the Shakespeares' love.

Indeed, I particularly revelled in one of the conclusions the novel comes to about a particular question looming over Shakespeare's works, and overall found this book to be an inventive and authentic treat. Will delight Bardolaters much more than everyday readers. show less