Readings on the Tragedies of William Shakespeare (Greenhaven Press Literary Companion to American Authors)

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ISBN 10: 1565104676 ISBN 13: 9781565104679

Publisher: Greenhaven Pr, 1996

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From School Library Journal:

Grade 8 Up?Two titles that promise to make literary criticism more accessible to high school students. Beginning with a biography of the author, each volume then follows with critical analyses that also place the literature within its historical and cultural context. Some essays trace a common element through several of the author's works, while others focus on one or more elements within a single title. A summary precedes each essay, which then includes subheadings to further underscore the main ideas. The essays, which date from the 19th century to 1995, consist mainly of excerpts, some of which are entire chapters, others of which are almost imperceptibly patched pieces with numerous omissions. For example, an essay on women in Shakespeare's tragedies omits large portions of the original text devoted to plays not included in this collection, but without compromising or muddling the remaining text. Very few of the selections are duplicated in similar series. Supplemental inserts provide further insights into the author and his work. In the Twain collection, several selections are devoted each to Huckleberry Finn and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. The Shakespeare volume concentrates on those tragedies most often taught in high school: Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar, Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth, and King Lear. While these titles' extra features make them more accessible to a pre-college audience than Prentice Hall's Twentieth Century Interpretations (also abridged) or the Twayne volumes, for advanced literature students they may serve better as supplements to unabridged critical texts.?Kelly Diller, Humboldt High School, IA
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist:

Gr. 10^-12. Featured in this Literary Companion volume are critical essays on six commonly taught Shakespearean tragedies: Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar, Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth, and King Lear. An engaging biographical piece on Shakespeare opens the volume, followed by three general essays--on tragedy, on Shakespeare's universal appeal, and on women in Shakespeare. Then three or four essays per play, excerpted from larger critical works, follow. Given that essayists include Hazlitt, writing in the 1870s, along with such literary luminaries as Northrup Frye, Cleanth Brooks, Edith Sitwell, and Kenneth Muir, this is not a book designed to make Shakespeare overly accessible to the masses, even with edited criticism. What it is designed to do is introduce students familiar with the plays to short doses of challenging literary commentary in treatises ranging from 4 to 11 pages each. Single-page, separately authored essays within essays break up some of the pieces and may prove distracting to students. Recommended where appropriate to curriculum support. Bibliography; chronology. Anne O'Malley

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