Shakespeare Books

This is a brilliant and persuasive contribution to the most written-about play in history. In a study which ranges over comparatively ignored aspects of 'Hamlet' - genealogy, inheritance, land, politics - De Grazia arrives at an authoritative new reading.
She shows how for the past 200 years many aspects of the play that were important to Shakespeare's contemporaries have been buried under the later obsession with interiority: the pensive, dilatory Hamlet of today's tradition. In this later critical evolution, a long procession of thinkers from Coleridge to Freud to Lacan have reinterpreted the play in an ongoing attempt to solve its (apparent)central question: why does Hamlet delay?
But de Grazia shifts the ground convincingly to more pragmatic and earthy concerns. She also shows that because the past two centuries of scholars have seen in 'Hamlet' a yawning question-mark, they have kept the play in the forefront of the modern by filling it with ever-new solutions based on Hamlet's inner conflict.
In 'Hamlet without Hamlet' professor De Grazia, while still honouring the power of these later interpretations, performs the miracle of recovering what they - and modern consciousness - have subsumed. Surely a landmark book.

I loved this book, it has as much to say about today as it does
about Shakespeare. It's complex but witty, and actually fun to read,
a rare thing these days in criticism of Shakespeare.

I read this book many years ago. Every few months I find myself thinking about a point that she raised, whether about literature or about the lives of academic women or about strong women in the 20th century. Heilbrun is a woman of complex insights written in a clear and accessible style! A wonderful read for lovers of literature and for feminists, male and female, young and old.

This really is "The Tragical History of Hamlet Prince of Denmark" and not only the Prince but his family. Not only his family but his friends. Not only his friends but all though that came before him and is told to those that came after him.

You can take time to scrutinize and pick apart many underlying themes or may of the phrases that now challenge Bible sayings in today's sound bites. But the real fun is in just reading the story and you will find that it is not as foreign as you may have thought.

A quick synopsis is that Old Hamlet conquered Old Fortinbras seizing his land. Now that Old Hamlet is dead, Young Fortinbras wants his land back and is willing to take it by force. Meanwhile back in Dänemark Young Hamlet who is excessively grieving for the loss of his father, gets a now insight from his fathers ghost. Looks like he was a victim of a "murder most foul"; it looks like his mother and uncle were in cahoots on the murder.

The story is about what each person felt and acted or did not act upon the situation.

You will find many movies and perverted imitations of the story but nothing will replace the original scripts that were intended to be watched.

Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead

This is the most readable version of Shakespeare I have encountered, doing full justice to the orignal text with the original alongside

Do you have a hard time understanding Shakepeare? If you do, this is the book for you. I almost always have to have someone explain Shakespeare's work for me. Not with this one. Christopher Andrews wrote this in such a way that anyone can understand. I would highly recommend this for anyone who enjoys Shakespeare, but have a hard time understanding his work.

Hamlet is my favorite Shakespearian play to teach, and this side-by-side version is great! I believe it's important for students of all levels to experience Shakespeare's artistry as well as become familiar with the plots, characters, etc. of the plays, and this edition allows both. The full, original text is there when you want to look at the rhythm, the imagery, etc., but the modern translation helps even brighter students keep a grasp of what they're reading.

Whether you're a student, a teacher, or just someone who loves to read, I think you'll find this side-by-side book fantastic.

This anthology was recommended to me by someone who loved Bloom's huge
book Shakespeare and the Invention of the Human. The recommender hadn't
read it, but thought it would be a celebration of Bloom. It partly is, but mostly
it takes up the controversy over Bloom's role in the literary reception of Shakespeare over the last twenty years. Most of the essays are very readable and enjoyable. Particularly good are essays by Hawkes, Fahmi, Desmet, and Charnes. Linda
Charnes' concluding essay "The Two Percent Solution: what Harold Bloom forgot" is
a knockout, a tour de force on what's wrong, and right, with Bloom, and with literary criticism in general these days. Anyone interested in the controversy over Bloom and the Bard would greatly enjoy reading through the essays in this book.

Bernard Grebanier has taken it upon himself to write, what might be considered, the most interesting and exciting approach to analytical Shakespeare. A must for Hamlet readers. And I'm one of the 'every sort of reader' type. I won't go into how this book came about for Mr. Grebanier you can find that as soon as you start reading. I found it in a used book store for $5 bucks. Highly recommended.

With the original text on the left page, the easy to understand modern text on the right-hand page, this is a can't miss edition. The best of both worlds, his and ours, and Henry IV never fails to deliver.

We all need our Hals and Hotspurs. And, yes, we need our Falstaffs as well.

An exceptional presentation of an exceptional work.