Shakespeare Books

Did the acclaimed and immortal playwright William Shakespeare write novels? Two professional linguists of the University of Washington offer a wealth of compelling evidence to suggest that he did, including the "Freeman Jones" novel. Secret Shakespeare's Adventures of Freeman Jones contains the text of the novel itself, an essay concerning forensic evidence pointing to Shakespeare as the text's author, footnotes expounding upon wordplay, and other insights into a remarkable and rambunctuous classic narrative. Regardless of the reader's final conclusions concerning the novel's authorship, Secret Shakespeare's Adventures Of Freeman Jones is a rousing read; the passage of centuries have not dimmed the spirit of high excitement, and the notes allow for the full appreciation of linguistic nuances. Recommended reading for Shakespeare fans and students, as well as library literature collections.

This book discusses an area that is usually not seen and not heard - disability and sexuality. So often disabled people are assumed to be asexual. But this book helps to show that disabled people can have a diverse range of sexual experiences, just like non-disabled people.

The book is easy to read and well written.

Being a disabled person myself, I know how hard it can be to come to terms with your identity. This book can help a lot in that regard.

I recommend it highly.

An engaging and sometimes hilarious glossary of the history and present of sexual slang. It's exploration of the roots of saucy language makes a fine coffee table book in spite of its academic approach. Richter is also an experimental musician of great renown!

Brilliant exposition of Shakespeare's revolutionary potential. It's amazing the proletariat haven't already seized control of the means of production and put up big musclebound statues of the guy.

I was almost overwhelmed by the beautiful simplicity of this book... perfect as an introduction, priceless as a reference, and it has great pictures too! Hurrah for Martin Fido!

You won't find much scholar/deep research information in this book, it's more for show, but what a beautiful show it is! I would describe it more as a big coffee table book about the bard's life with chapters entitled "Shakespeare in London", "Shakespeare in Stratford" or "Shakespeare Returns to Stratford". It has blurbs here and there (like one about Ovid having a strong influence in the bard's work).

The VERY UNIQUE feature is the reprinted documents of his life, it definitely has a "treasure" feel as you unfold these pages with papers on Shakespeare's baptism, his marriage bond, his will, first playbills. Printed on glossy paper, but in the original handwriting color and print, it gives you a feel of the times. I consider it a great visual aid.

Think of the CD as a bonus... it has about 17 tracks of excerpts from the Arkangel Audio series. Now, this is more of my opinion, but I'm not always thrilled with Arkangel's performances. Scenes on the CD include the Balcony Scene from Romeo & Juliet, the ending of A Midsummer Night's Dream, and of course, "To Be Or Not To Be" from Hamlet, etc. Let's just say none of them were particularly breathtaking to me, but nevertheless, enjoyable.

So I say again, wonderful gift for the Shakespeare enthusiast!

Filled with humor and illustrations, this book covers a variety of topics about Shakespeare and his time. The author makes it interesting for 9th and 10th graders, although some of the humor is aimed at British students. An excellent overview or introduction, appropriate for History, English or Drama students.

"A classic in the field; in fact, it has the field to itself. Every scholar in Shakespeare studies knows about this volume."--William Carroll, author of *The Metamorphoses of Shakespearean Comedy*
I am certain that this book does indeed have the field to itself; and the assertion that every scholar in Shakespeare studies knows about this volume is probably no exaggeration either. This is a truly excellent publication, and it can safely be said that every serious scholar in Shakespeare studies SHOULD know it. The book has a final section on the writing of a research paper which is very sound and helpful, but the bulk of the material is, quite rightly, concerned with the task of guiding anyone who wants to get a good idea of what kind of thing has already been said about Shakespeare by scholars who, whether "right" or "wrong", have made a substantial contribution in their work on the author. Obviously there is a real difficulty deciding what should be included in a book of this nature, but the selection has been wisely made. Very sensibly, there is no over-emphasis on what is recent. Thus S.T. Coleridge, for example, who remains one of the most important of the early commentators, is included, but so is e.g. Stephen Greenblatt, who is among the best-known modern ones. It is striking, too, how objective, accurate, and clear the authors are in their descriptions of what scholars have to say. This is no mean feat, since they are dealing with a very wide range of material, and include authors whom many would not be nearly so objective and factual about. As for the fact that the book is now a few years old: that is no reason for not buying it. After all, the few years NOT covered are only a very short span in the wider scheme of things, and it is certainly possible to find out about more recent publications by consulting e.g. reviews in *Shakespeare Quarterly*. At the least, this guide will direct one to the more important publications until the time of publication, and it is possible to decide from the descriptions supplied whether or not an item discussed here is likely to supply one's need. The book thus saves one a good deal of time as well as informing one about major statements and trends in Shakespeare scholarship; it is an essential tool for anyone doing serious work on the author - certainly if not a beginner, though even a beginner willl find the book accessible and informative enough to be of use. - Joost Daalder, Professor of English, Flinders University (South Australia)

There are lots of academic studies of Shakespeare in popular culture coming out at the moment, but many are written by people who wouldn't know popular culture if it banged on their door trying to sell them cookies. The contributors to this volume are intelligent deep cultured people but listen this does not HAVE to mean you don't know how the mass market thinks, and this team does. Laurie Osborne is divine on Shakespeare in Harlequin romances and Burt is at his leg-biting best on the strange eery tameness of Taymor's *Titus* movie. This book really advances the argument about what and how Shakespeare means in America today -- buy it.

Brubaker's little book has been one of the best secrets in the business of acting shakespeare for almost a quarter of a century. It is a no nonsense approach to the mechanics and reasons behind the mechanics of blank verse. Almost everyone in the professional theatre under forty knows of it, and it is the underground book of choice for instructors of verse acting throughout American Universities and conservatories. A must in helping inexperienced actors getting Elizabethan drama from the page to the stage, it is also a refreshing reminder of first principles in verse acting for seasoned professionals.