While the book, Kafka’s The Triali, is still open, digitally nonetheless, I have taken a literary detour and finished the book “Shakespeare” by Bill Bryon.

Very interesting read.

There is not much known about William Shakespeare historically. There is simply not many documentation about him or his family. Despite this, Bill Bryon is still able to write a fascinating account of the time and era Shakespeare lived, in particular the often plague-ridden city, London, in around 1590 to 1620.

The reign of Elizabeth and James II, the swing between Protestantism and Catholicism in England, Gunpowder Plot happened in this period.

William Shakespeare died in 1616. Ming Dynasty ended in 1644. (They are totally irrelevant. I just like to compare what is happening on the other side of the world)

Actually it is rather interesting that while theatre and plays are all the rage in Shakespearean time, Chinese opera also reached its height in development in Ming dynasty. Even after Ming dynasty was annihilated by Qing, the costume in Chinese opera are still set in Ming era, despite the explicit ban of wearing previous dynasty’s fashion by the Qing court. The tradition continues to today.

Serious innovations in Chinese opera have to wait for another three hundred years to take place in colonial Hong Kong.