The Complete Works of Shakespeare - Tapa dura

The Complete Works of Shakespeare, Sixth Edition
David Bevington

Why do we need a new edition of Shakespeare’s plays? Listen to what David Bevington has to say in his preface to this sixth edition:

“No period in history has seen such an extensive study of Shakespeare, and no period has experienced so many revolutions in critical method: feminist, new historical, deconstructive, post-colonial, and more. My attempt has been [constantly] to reeducate myself, to learn more about the complexities of meaning and the innumerable alternative possibilities that present themselves to the student of Shakespeare. Above all, I have tried to learn how to improve accessibility and clarity for today’s reader in the interpretation of this extraordinary body of dramatic literature.
My hope is that the sixth edition offers students and general readers the most accessible and usable Shakespeare anthology on the market.”

Surely one of today’s premier Shakespeare scholars, David Bevington is also an extraordinary teacher whose concern is always how to make these remarkable plays compelling for every reader. Bevington’s work addresses the primary problems most of us have with reading Shakespeare–an unfamiliarity both with the historical period and with the challenging language–by providing a comprehensive General Introduction that offers wide-ranging historical, cultural, and critical context for our reading, as well as clear, accessible, line-by-line glosses for the sometimes bewildering Elizabethan language and idioms. At a time when many of us come to Shakespeare by way of film, Bevington brings us back to the wonder of the words.

Also available: VangoNotes: How to Study Shakespeare offers a new way to hear and experience Shakespeare’s language through downloadable podcasts.

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