NTC's Dictionary of Shakespeare - Hardcover

Naylor,Christopher

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0844257559 ISBN 13: 9780844257556

Publisher: McGraw-Hill, 1994

Synopsis

Used and recommended by the Royal Shakespeare Company, this user-friendly dictionary contains more than 1,000 entries. Each play has its own entry containing a plot summary, a list of characters, possible sources, and a stage history.* USEFUL INTRODUCTION. Briefly profiles William Shakespeare and the particular play, and provides explanations of Shakespeare's language so that students have the needed background for further study. * READER-FRIENDLY FORMAT. Puts Shakespeare's text on the right-hand page; clear and concise notes and definitions on the left-hand page. * HELPFUL READER'S NOTES THROUGHOUT. Keep students from getting "stuck" on difficult passages. * THOUGHT-PROVOKING QUESTIONS/WRITING ASSIGNMENTS. Develop comprehension and keep students tuned in throughout the entire play. * INSTRUCTOR'S MANUAL. Provides a wealth of background, including a production history, teaching approaches, answers to questions, and quizzes.

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Reviews

This 1000-entry dictionary has a separate entry for every character in Shakespeare's plays, for people and places mentioned in the plays, and for playwrights, theaters, and actors from Shakespeare's time. There is an annotated bibliography but no index. A third of the book is taken up with three essays: a study of Shakespeare's life, "Theatre and Play Production in Shakespeare's Time," and the 32-page essay "Shakespeare's Major Poetry." The inclusion of the last in a book of this kind is odd: as a result, Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece get more space than Hamlet, King Lear, Macbeth, and Othello combined. The character entries are comprehensive and useful, but the rest is uneven in quality. Why, for example, list Finsbury, the most minor of references in I Henry IV, but not Eastcheap or Shrewsbury? Why a reference to Agincourt but not to Actium? Why an entry on John Donne but not on Thomas Kyd or John Lyly? In addition, the cross-referencing is poor. For example, there are separate entries on Ovid and Metamorphoses but nothing to indicate this. And anyone looking for information on the Earl of Essex had better know that his name was Robert Devereux; otherwise, they will search in vain. An adequate resource at best.
Bryan Aubrey, Fairfield, Ia.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

This book begins with lengthy introductory essays on Shakespeare's life, his poetry, and theater and play production in his time and an extensive bibliography. The main part of the book is made up of more than 1,000 alphabetically arranged entries on his plays and characters. For each play, there is a plot summary, a list of characters, discussion of the historical sources on which Shakespeare drew, and the early publishing history of the play. The entries for characters are briefer. For minor characters, a sentence identifies the play and the character's role in it; for more important characters, such as King Lear, entries are a paragraph in length. There are also entries for early theater companies, actors famous for Shakespeare roles, other playwrights of the period, and such theater terms as masque.

Libraries that bought the more detailed Shakespeare A to Z: The Essential Reference to His Plays, His Poems, His Life and Times, and More (Facts On File, 1990) will not need The Shakespeare Dictionary, but those that couldn't afford that book will want to consider this inexpensive one. Sandy Whiteley

Edition details

• Publisher: McGraw-Hill
• Publication date: 1994
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0844257559
• ISBN 13: 9780844257556
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 304