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Title: The Meaning of Shakespeare by Goddard, Harold C. Goddard ISBN: 0-226-30041-2 Publisher: University of Chicago Press Pub. Date: 01 June, 1960 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $20.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.9 (10 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Best Shakespeare Criticism
Comment: Other writers about Shakespeare have tried to equal Goddard's labor of love, most recently Harold Bloom's Shakespeare: The Art of the Human. None come close, although Jan Kott's Shakespeare Our Contemporary is also great, as is Allan Bloom's Shakespeare's Politics. In fact, Goddard makes Harold Bloom's effort look like it was written by a boy.
Goddard writes thoughtful, highly readable, analytic essays about each of the plays. His interpretations are the most original, but well-argued I've ever seen. Yet they frequently deviate from traditional interpretations. For example, Goddard makes a case against the much-loved, jingoistic interpretation of Henry V; Goddard reads much darker implications. In his essay about Romeo and Juliet, Goddard argues that the play is not about star-crossed lovers, but about Romeo's inability to match Juliet's love, which is the real source of tragedy.
It's hard to disagree once you've read Goddard's interpretations, but even when you do, you'll be richer for the experience.
For those of you interested in "old-fashioned" literary criticism, when writers considered it their duty, not to obscure the text or to deconstruct it, but to make difficult works more accessible, than this is for you. This is a purchase you will never regret.
Rating: 5
Summary: Really Helpful For Understanding & Appreciating Shakespeare
Comment: Professor Goddard provides a fresh understanding of the Shakespeare plays, sonnets and poems that you will not find in most college courses or in other books of Shakespeare criticism. Don't miss this! Here is a man who taught, read and reflected on the Shakespeare plays, sonnets and poems for years and years and came to some global conclusions as to what they all mean. He even concludes that the meaning of all of Shakespeare is summarized in two lines from one of the sonnets (I'll let you discover this for yourself!). Be sure to notice that there are two paperbacks, volume one and volume two. The current publisher has split the original hardback edition into the two paperback volumes, so you really need both of these volumes. Different plays and poems are covered in each volume.
Rating: 5
Summary: Totally enjoyable criticism
Comment: Wow, thought I was the only adult fan of Shakespeare who watches the plays and then runs home to read what insights Goddard has into 'em -- guess not, from these reviews.
Each chapter -- essay -- is like an evening by the fireside with a scholarly, opinionated friend interested in exploring ideas rather than summarizing a plot or proving his erudition.
Special applause to Goddard's essay (Vol.1) on Henry V: his quite negative take on Henry's character -- for which, as he points out, all the evidence is right there in the text -- made the play much more subtle and so more interesting for me.
Volume one (brown cover) has many of the histories and tragedies; Volume two (blue cover) has everything else. I recommend them both, but if you're looking just for Goddard's essay on one particular play, choose the "look inside the book" option for viewing the cover -- it lists the plays covered inside.
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Title: Shakespearean Tragedy: Lectures on Hamlet, Othello, King Lear & Macbeth by A. C. Bradley ISBN: 0140530193 Publisher: Penguin Books Pub. Date: 01 October, 1991 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Asimov's Guide to Shakespeare by Isaac Asimov, Rafael Palacios ISBN: 0517268256 Publisher: Gramercy Books Pub. Date: 01 May, 1993 List Price(USD): $24.99 |
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Title: Northrop Frye on Shakespeare by Northrop Frye ISBN: 0300042086 Publisher: Yale University Press Pub. Date: 01 August, 1988 List Price(USD): $17.00 |
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Title: Shakespeare's Imagery and What It Tells Us by C. Spurgeon ISBN: 0521092582 Publisher: Cambridge University Press Pub. Date: 01 January, 1989 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
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Title: Everybody's Shakespeare: Reflections Chiefly on the Tragedies by Maynard Mack ISBN: 0803282141 Publisher: University of Nebraska Press Pub. Date: 01 December, 1994 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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