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Shakespeare After All
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’s foremost authorities on his life and work. Drawing on her hugely popular lecture courses at Yale and Harvard over the past thirty years, Marjorie Garber offers passionate and revealing readings of the plays in chronologica...more
Paperback, 1008 pages
Published
November 19th 2008
by Anchor
(first published 2004)
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Remember the last time you read a work of literary criticism and actually understood it? The tide has changed with Shakespeare After All. Forgoing cultural studies jargon for an eclectic approach that draws from gender studies, post-colonial theory, and Elizabethan stage history, Garber focuses on close, erudite readings of the Bard's work. Comparing her tome to Harold Bloom's Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human (1998), critics agree that Garber is more readable and enjoyable; Stephen Greenb
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While almost all Shakespeare criticism tends to sound the same, after biographical details and conjecture (enough with the young William poaching deer!) is thrown in, this account of Shakespeare's plays is fresh and omnivorous. A bit cheeky too - when she speaks about a particulat uncritical critic who has a thing for Falstaff, whose one-sided readings may become the old-fashioned way of writing about Shakespeare. Nice presentation of speeches and dialogue throughout the book, representing a...more
This book is great. A chapter for each Shakespeare play, and each one provides an excellent analysis / close reading. As a literature major (although my specialty is French lit.) I feel like these close readings greatly enhanced my appreciation of Shakespeare. However they also seem like they would be very accessible for someone who isn't a full-time literature student but still just wants to read and understand Shakespeare. When I was teaching in middle and high school I would give my colle...more
I read this book alongside Harold Bloom's famous work on the Bard and actually enjoyed it much more. The books are organized in much the same way, tackling each play one-by-one, chapter by chapter. When reading them side by side, I was more convinced and intrigued by Garber's readings; I think her interpretive strategies are more like my own than say Mr. Bloom's - so I am probably biased. In fact, I know I am biased; Bloom is a meglamaniac. Garber does a good job making use of more recent sch...more
I love this book! It gives an in-depth analysis of Shakespeare's plays and is a great source to read before seeing a production. I have been using it for the past few years and it really gets me into the mood for each play and awakens me to nuances I might otherwise have missed. Even when I don't agree with some of Garber's theories she always makes me think about the play in a deeper context.
Great background reading for me, when considering a play for study or when in the midst of a play.
David
added it
A wonderful, insightful and readable compendium of fascinating background and analysis of the folio.
Very self-conscious in parts, but nice to read a perspective not totally inspired by Bloom for once
Excellent book. Interesting and in-depth analysis of all of Shakespeare's plays.
Melissa
marked it as to-read
From the 2011 Booklover's Calendar
Garber understands Shakespere inside and out and is able to relate how his individual works relate to each other and how his character types develop over the years as he perfects his style. I found she made the different works more understandable and was able to convey how they would have related to the audience in his time versus the major difference in how Shakespere's work is understood and acted in our time reference,
Very informative about all the little pieces of Shakespeare's plays. I only read three of the chapters because I've only actually read three of his plays, but each one taught me a few new things about the play. For example, the bit about biting thumbs in the beginning of Romeo and Juliet was called "giving someone the fig" and was the same as flicking someone off. Also, somehow I missed that Juliet's nurse was kind of a pervert, even though I've seen/read the play many times in high...more
This is one of the best comprehensive guides to Shakespeare's plays I've come across. The book is comprised of over thirty years of lecture material by Garber. Chapters are dedicated to each play, chronologically. She takes a New Critical approach, focusing her readings on apt textual analysis. I highly recommend picking up this book to read as a companion to the plays or as a refresher after having been away from Shakespeare for any period of time.
This fantastic book of literary analysis makes me (almost) wish I were still teaching. Garber's observations and analysis are excellent and her writing smooth and beautiful, and while I thought I could not have gleaned much more from, say, Macbeth, she shows me that, oh yes, I can....well, she can, and she did.
I'm reading this as I read each play. The book is set up in chronolgical order of Shakespeare's plays (as they think he wrote them or that they were produced at the Globe, I'm not sure which). Have so far only read her account of The Merchant of Venice because I recently read that play and read the corresponding chapter. Garber makes great observations that sheds new light to a casual reading of the plays.
A very enjoyable read for fans of Shakespeare, much more so that Harold Bloom's recent work. Terrifically adept at jumping from critical theory to critical theory, the book doesn't try to give a Big Answer...just provides a canvas for the Big Picture and to let readers know and negotiate richer responses to the plays. Nicely done.
Amazingly readable, entertaining and engaging essays on Shakespeare's plays-even if you haven't read the play under discussion (I haven't read them all, and Prof. Garber covers them all here). But, if you have read the play(s), Garber's insights will add so much to your enjoyment of them.
If you don't actually enjoy reading Shakespeare but would like to know more about his plays, understand and be able to speak intelligently about them, then simply read this. Its an easy read, gives you insights to the plots and characters, along with synopses of each play and the sonnets.
A more well thought out approach than Harold Bloom's Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human. It is still very opinionated, and could lead a novice Shakespearean astray, but I bring this book with me every year to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.
Garber knows Shakespeare as well as anyone--she is a Harvard prof. Her undergrad Shakespeare survey at Harvard is SRO so she knows how to present to non-specialists. Here she covers all the plays and the sonnets in witty, informative and well written essays.
A great introductory analysis for anyone who is interested or about to work on any of the plays. I'll be dipping in and out of this book for awhile
Garber goes through each play in a clear and usually helpful, often insightful manner. A good companion to have along as you reread the plays.
It gives a lot of insight into each of Shakespeare's plays
Best survey of the work
This is part of my Shakespeare reference collection, which includes:
A Companion to Shakespeare
Asimov's Guide to Shakespeare
Essential Shakespeare Handbook
Imagining Shakespeare
Northrop Frye on Shakespeare
Shakespeare After All
Shakespeare: An Oxford Guide
Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human
The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare
The Oxford Companion to Shakespeare
For the plays I’ve read, I’ve also read the relevant sections in these r...more
A Companion to Shakespeare
Asimov's Guide to Shakespeare
Essential Shakespeare Handbook
Imagining Shakespeare
Northrop Frye on Shakespeare
Shakespeare After All
Shakespeare: An Oxford Guide
Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human
The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare
The Oxford Companion to Shakespeare
For the plays I’ve read, I’ve also read the relevant sections in these r...more
Lynne
marked it as to-read
Lisa A.
marked it as to-read
Kelly
marked it as to-read
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