Pros: erudite yet accessible; insightful, knowledgeable; an indispensable addition to the bookshelf of Shakespeare aficionados
Cons: no similar volume that deals with Shakespeare's sonnets and long poems
The Bottom Line: With her comprehensive knowledge, insights and close reading of the Bard's plays, Professor Garber reveals deeper meaning and broader context to captivate and delight the reader.
jc_hall's Full Review: Marjorie Garber - Shakespeare After All
Make no mistake--this is one heavy tome. At a whopping 900 pages, this is not a volume to be read from cover to cover in one sitting. My copy is the hardcover version, as I could not wait for the paperback version to be published. Also, as it is a reference book, I expect mine to endure a considerable amount of wear and tear, so the less expensive paperback version seemed like false economy to me.
All thirty-eight plays are here, each meriting a chapter, and each can and should be read as a ‘stand-alone’, at leisure, to allow the reader to savour the various gems revealed. Based on this reader’s experience, you would want to re-read the corresponding Bard’s play after each chapter, so as to enjoy them more with your new-found knowledge. There’s no question about it--this book belongs in pride of place on your bookshelf, right beside The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. Be aware though that the sonnets and long poems are not dissected in Shakespeare After All. Perhaps Professor Garber will delight us with a future volume just for those.
THE AUTHOR
Marjorie Garber is Professor of English and American Literature and Language at Harvard University. Her hugely popular Shakespeare courses at Yale and Harvard have played to packed lecture halls for thirty years. Professor Garber’s comprehensive knowledge, insights and close reading of the Bard’s plays allow her to unfurl each of them, one by one, to divulge deeper meanings and broader context, so that the reader is able to fully appreciate the layers of meaning within the Bard’s use of language, and is once again charmed by the beauty of his style and captivated by his wit and intellect.
THE INTRODUCTION
This is a chapter long, and begins with the phrase: ‘Every age creates its own Shakespeare.’ , paraphrasing Ben Johnson’s verdict of the great man: ‘He was not of an age, but for all time.’ It also betrays Professor Garber’s conviction of Shakespeare’s utmost relevancy to us today. To do so, she refers to the plays as they were performed in their original historical context before becoming successively ‘modernized’ by later performers with various slants or emphasis to suit their cultural, social or political concerns. But deep down, the plays portray intricacies of human relationships and those, of course, transcend time, cultures, social mores and politics.
The First Quarto version of the famous Hamlet’s speech (‘To be or not to be’) is reproduced and compared with the better-known Second Quarto version. Certainly, much of the Bard’s writings have undergone extensive editing by legions of writers over hundreds of years, and there’s no saying the original’s the best, in any case. It’s also interesting to read of Shakespeare’s contemporaries like Ben Johnson, Alexander Pope, Keats, Coleridge, and their views on the great man’s work.
The history of Shakespeare’s acting company (first the Lord Chamberlain’s Men and later the King’s Men) and their rival troupes of boy actors is touched upon. More than anything else, it is Professor Garber’s extensive knowledge of not just the Shakespeare plays but the backdrop (cultural, political, social) against which the plays are performed, and her ability to relate the one to the other, that makes for such absorbing reading.
THE BIBLIOGRAPHY, ETC.
This is exhaustive, with no fewer than 48 works cited just for the Introduction alone, followed by works of reference for each play. Then there are 28 pages of Suggestions for Further Readings, again helpfully arranged by play, and including references for Films and film adaptations, Tudor and Stuart history, Elizabethan and Jacobean theatre, as well as the controversial authorship question.
As well as the General Index, there is a Character Index, making it easy to cross-reference your favourite Shakespeare character.
CONCLUSION
All in all, an engrossing read, to be savoured—at leisure—one chapter at a time. Highly recommended for all aficionados of the Bard.
A brilliant and companionable tour through all thirty-eight plays, Shakespeare After All is the perfect introduction to the bard by one of the country...More at HotBookSale
In Shakespeare After All, Marjorie Garber--professor of English and director of the Humanities Center at Harvard University--gives us a magisterial wo...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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