- Hardcover: 576 pages
- Publisher: OUP Oxford; illustrated edition edition (20 Sep 2001)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0198117353
- ISBN-13: 978-0198117353
- Product Dimensions: 27.7 x 22.4 x 4.1 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 875,937 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
From Ariel and anti-theatrical polemic to Willow Song, Yorrick and Zeffirelli, The Oxford Companion to Shakespeare is a remarkably eclectic reference book. "Setobos is a deity or demon worshipped by Sycorax in The Tempest," runs one entry; "Lighting--Open air playhouses used available daylight supplemented by cresset-lights (oil-soaked rope burning in a metal basket) in the early evening," begins another. The writing style is commendably unpretentious.
Most of the 540 pages are given over to alphabetic listing of characters and locations in the plays, actors, directors, theatre managers and critics from the late 16th century until the present. Then there are, among other things, technical terms to do with the theatre or with language and names such as Wagner, Zoffany, Arnold, Marlowe, whose work connects in any way with Shakespeare. There is no index but the book opens with a detailed account of the plays' dramatis personae, themes and associated names; and it ends with maps, a Royal family tree to help you pick your way through the history plays and a timeline giving a chronology of Shakespeare's life and works (and their reception). There are also suggestions for further reading. Each play gets several pages at the appropriate point in the alphabetical arrangement. The commentary includes a synopsis, textual information and some facts on the play's sources, along with an account of its stage and critical history and artistic features. The section about published editions and criticism of each play is useful too. Apocryphal plays such as The Merry Devil of Edmonton are mentioned more briefly.
The Oxford Companion to Shakespeare is an attractive book--with its A4 format, shiny paper and plenty of pictures--to browse through as well as use as a reference. --Susan Elkin
Review
"It is difficult to think of a topic that is not touched upon in this new handbook....Its embrace of all things Shakespearean makes this volume a necessity for academic and public libraries."--Booklist [STARRED REVIEW] "Heavy and oversized, but it's also packed with more than 3,000 entries on the plays and poetry of William Shakespeare.,, .A gift of scholarship and entertainment."--Chicago Tribune "Written to complement rather than critique the works of Shakespeare, this erudite but immensely readable volume is an essential addition to the Oxford Shakespeare....Authoritative yet succinct, this belongs in any library serving Shakespeare students and scholars."--Library Journal
"The volume's greatest strength is the detailed attention given to the evolution of Shakespeare as literary giant and cultural icon over four centuries."--Choice "For loads of hard information on Shakespeare's canon, this well-illustrated, encyclopedic reference book offers play synopses, critical analysis
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Aaron, a "Moor and Tamora's lover, is ultimately sentenced to be buried and starved, Titus Andronicus 5-3. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt
Aaron, a "Moor and Tamora's lover, is ultimately sentenced to be buried and starved, Titus Andronicus 5-3. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
49 of 50 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Beautifully designed and laid out, with hundreds of really good relevant and unusual pictures, this is a fabulous reference book -- jammed with information and ideas. It isn't just a bunch of academics prosing on as if for each other -- there's no jargon, and all the thousands of entries (which range from nicely set-out in-depth ones on individual plays to tiny little gems of fascinating trivia) are written to share a real enjoyment of the plays and the poems. Describes the world that made Shakespeare and the world that Shakespeare has made -- the pictures range from Elizabethan documents to modern adverts -- and there's amazing stuff about what Shakespeare's works have become in ballet and music and opera and film and in fiction. So it's much broader and more lively than its stuffy title suggests -- judge it by the brilliant colours of the jacket, not the imprint! A must for every bookshelf, but it won't stay still on a bookshelf for long -- the only encyclopaedia I own that would be a pleasure to read from A straight through to Z. You learn something you didn't expect to every time you open a page...it('s)... worth..(it) just for the full-page pin-up of a young Dorothy Tutin as Cressida. My Christmas present list is solved for this year -- and they'll be grateful, too. Fantastic for anyone even remotely interested in Shakespeare, whether as a student or a theatregoer or anything.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
If you are a Shakespeare scholar or are looking for new analyses and critiques of the plays, you won't find them here. If you are an appreciator of the drama currently and formerly enacted based loosely or otherwise on the Bards work, then this is the book for you. It is approachable and demystifying of the plays, it goes into detail on the production histories and is intelligently illustrated. It is not the last word, what could be? It may be the first word you should read when examining Shakespearean drama.
In short, if you are a general consumer of drama and have an interest in getting to grips more effectively with Shakespeare this is the book for you. If you could lecture on the subject, I expect you will need to look elsewhere.
In short, if you are a general consumer of drama and have an interest in getting to grips more effectively with Shakespeare this is the book for you. If you could lecture on the subject, I expect you will need to look elsewhere.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I cannot rate this book highly enough. Every Shakespeare play is outlined Act by Act, Scene by Scene in a concise, easy-to-understand format that means I now cannot watch a Shakespeare play without this and a good version of the text in front of me. For that alone, this book is well worth buying.
There is a lot of other information in here, but - by its very nature - it does not go into as much detail as other studies. However, as it is co-edited by Stanley Wells, one of the leading contemporary Shakespeare scholars, it's all of a very high standard.
I'm sure I paid more for my copy than the current price (as of Jan 2010) - it now seems an absolute bargain. It is a big book, but then, it is on Shakespeare.
If you're studying Shakespeare's plays academically, or just for pleasure, this book is absolutely essential if you want to understand every line.
There is a lot of other information in here, but - by its very nature - it does not go into as much detail as other studies. However, as it is co-edited by Stanley Wells, one of the leading contemporary Shakespeare scholars, it's all of a very high standard.
I'm sure I paid more for my copy than the current price (as of Jan 2010) - it now seems an absolute bargain. It is a big book, but then, it is on Shakespeare.
If you're studying Shakespeare's plays academically, or just for pleasure, this book is absolutely essential if you want to understand every line.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Stunning!
This clear, lucid book is a triumph for the Shakesperean world. Accessible both for academics and the general public, it shows Wells and Dobson at their very best. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Harbottle45
Good in Parts
The Oxford Companion to Shakespeare (Oxford Companions)A strange mixture. The entries in this handbook range from the elementary to the world-historical, with the purely fatuous in... Read more
Published on 16 April 2009 by William Zunder
just what we need
Just what we need, another companion to Shakespeare.
This one is so big and cumbersome it needs a companion
to carry it around.
This one is so big and cumbersome it needs a companion
to carry it around.
Published on 9 Jun 2006 by UK Reader
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