Essential Shakespeare Handbook - Softcover

Leslie Dunton-Downer is a lecturer who has an abundance of awards and accolades to her credit. Her Parisian bookshelves are piled high with books on the bard alongside some of her own which have been read worldwide. Alan Riding makes a living out of waxing lyrical about Shakespeare. He regularly contributes his interpretations on the much-loved playwright to national and international press.

Grade 7 Up–Organized according to the categories of plays and including a section on his nondramatic poetry, this is an excellent basic tool for gaining insight into the Bard's poetic genius. Each of the categories–histories, comedies, tragedies, and romances–commences with a well-written essay that explains the nature of the genre (and the place of Shakespeare's works within it) and discusses the themes and ideas that lay behind the poet's words. A more in-depth analysis of each play follows: a look at the sources that inspired it, an act-by-act plot outline (with relevant quotes), an annotated list of the dramatis personae, ideas to ponder when reading/seeing the play, and, finally, a discussion of issues associated with the play and/or its productions. Each treatment is liberally peppered with informative sidebars, as well as with clear, color photos of relevant people and places. For the poems, similarly organized information is offered. A number of useful discussions help put the pieces into their full literary context. A biography of the playwright, an essay on Elizabethan society and the theater it spawned, a discussion of the overall canon, and an explanation of Shakespeare's language and poetic meters round out the text. This volume is not meant to take the place of more comprehensive reference works, such as Michael Dobson and Stanley Wells's The Oxford Companion to Shakespeare (Oxford, 2001), but it isan informative, visually enticing introduction to the world's most famous dramatist.–Nancy Menaldi-Scanlan, LaSalle Academy, Providence, RI
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