An examination of forty-one Shakespearean play texts, the 'bad quartos' or 'memorial reconstructions'.

There are forty-one problematic play texts, variously classified as "bad quartos" or "memorial reconstructions," from Shakespeare's time. Textual criticism of these quartos has been fraught with assumption and contradiction. Maguire examines all the texts in detail. She deconstructs the theories of W.W. Greg and his followers, scrutinizing the methods by which critics diagnose texts as "bad," and examines the historical evidence for the concept of memorial reconstruction (compilation from the recollection of actors or spectators). The valuable contextual material includes fresh analysis of...

This engaging book draws on all of Shakespeare's plays to show they can still be used as a guide to life.

• Introduces beginning students and general readers to Shakespeare's plays by highlighting the connections between the issues addressed by the plays and those of our own time.


• Focuses on the characters, situations and stories in Shakespeare which are still familiar today.


• Shows how Shakespeare's plays illustrate some of life's most familiar stories - love and obsession, parents and children, sex and politics, suffering...

This collection of 12 essays uses the works of Shakespeare to show how experts in their field formulate critical positions.

• A helpful guidebook for anyone trying to think of a new approach to Shakespeare
  
• Twelve experts take new critical positions in their field of study using the writings and analysis of Shakespeare, to show how writers (students and academics) find topics and develop their ideas
  
• Features autobiographical prefaces that explain how the experts chose their topics and why the editor commissioned these particular...

This collection of 12 essays uses the works of Shakespeare to show how experts in their field formulate critical positions.

• A helpful guidebook for anyone trying to think of a new approach to Shakespeare
  
• Twelve experts take new critical positions in their field of study using the writings and analysis of Shakespeare, to show how writers (students and academics) find topics and develop their ideas
  
• Features autobiographical prefaces that explain how the experts chose their topics and why the editor commissioned these particular...

Helen of Troy: From Homer to Hollywood is a comprehensive literary biography of Helen of Troy, which explores the ways in which her story has been told and retold in almost every century from the ancient world to the modern day.

• Takes readers on an epic voyage into the literary representations of a woman who has wielded a great influence on Western cultural consciousness for more than three millennia
• Features a wide and diverse variety of literary sources, including epic, drama, novels, poems, film, comedy, and opera, and works by Homer, Euripides, Chaucer, Shakespeare
...

Helen of Troy: From Homer to Hollywood is a comprehensive literary biography of Helen of Troy, which explores the ways in which her story has been told and retold in almost every century from the ancient world to the modern day.

• Takes readers on an epic voyage into the literary representations of a woman who has wielded a great influence on Western cultural consciousness for more than three millennia
• Features a wide and diverse variety of literary sources, including epic, drama, novels, poems, film, comedy, and opera, and works by Homer, Euripides, Chaucer, Shakespeare
...

Think you know Shakespeare? Think again . . .

Was a real skull used in the first performance of Hamlet? Were Shakespeare's plays Elizabethan blockbusters? How much do we really know about the playwright's life? And what of his notorious relationship with his wife? Exploring and exploding 30 popular myths about the great playwright, this illuminating new book evaluates all the evidence to show how historical material--or its absence--can be interpreted and misinterpreted, and what this reveals about our own personal investment in the stories we tell.