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Romances (The Tempest, Pericles, The Winter's Tale, Cymbeline)
(Jacket Status: Not Jacketed)
463 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1623
5 people are currently reading
230 people want to read
About the author
William Shakespeare
27.9k books47.1k followersWilliam Shakespeare was an English playwright, poet, and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon" (or simply "the Bard"). His extant works, including collaborations, consist of some 39 plays, 154 sonnets, three long narrative poems, and a few other verses, some of uncertain authorship. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright. Shakespeare remains arguably the most influential writer in the English language, and his works continue to be studied and reinterpreted.
Shakespeare was born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. At the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three children: Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith. Sometime between 1585 and 1592, he began a successful career in London as an actor, writer, and part-owner ("sharer") of a playing company called the Lord Chamberlain's Men, later known as the King's Men after the ascension of King James VI and I of Scotland to the English throne. At age 49 (around 1613), he appears to have retired to Stratford, where he died three years later. Few records of Shakespeare's private life survive; this has stimulated considerable speculation about such matters as his physical appearance, his sexuality, his religious beliefs, and even certain fringe theories as to whether the works attributed to him were written by others.
Shakespeare produced most of his known works between 1589 and 1613. His early plays were primarily comedies and histories and are regarded as some of the best works produced in these genres. He then wrote mainly tragedies until 1608, among them Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth, all considered to be among the finest works in the English language. In the last phase of his life, he wrote tragicomedies (also known as romances) and collaborated with other playwrights.
Many of Shakespeare's plays were published in editions of varying quality and accuracy during his lifetime. However, in 1623, John Heminge and Henry Condell, two fellow actors and friends of Shakespeare's, published a more definitive text known as the First Folio, a posthumous collected edition of Shakespeare's dramatic works that includes 36 of his plays. Its Preface was a prescient poem by Ben Jonson, a former rival of Shakespeare, that hailed Shakespeare with the now famous epithet: "not of an age, but for all time".
Shakespeare was born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. At the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three children: Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith. Sometime between 1585 and 1592, he began a successful career in London as an actor, writer, and part-owner ("sharer") of a playing company called the Lord Chamberlain's Men, later known as the King's Men after the ascension of King James VI and I of Scotland to the English throne. At age 49 (around 1613), he appears to have retired to Stratford, where he died three years later. Few records of Shakespeare's private life survive; this has stimulated considerable speculation about such matters as his physical appearance, his sexuality, his religious beliefs, and even certain fringe theories as to whether the works attributed to him were written by others.
Shakespeare produced most of his known works between 1589 and 1613. His early plays were primarily comedies and histories and are regarded as some of the best works produced in these genres. He then wrote mainly tragedies until 1608, among them Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth, all considered to be among the finest works in the English language. In the last phase of his life, he wrote tragicomedies (also known as romances) and collaborated with other playwrights.
Many of Shakespeare's plays were published in editions of varying quality and accuracy during his lifetime. However, in 1623, John Heminge and Henry Condell, two fellow actors and friends of Shakespeare's, published a more definitive text known as the First Folio, a posthumous collected edition of Shakespeare's dramatic works that includes 36 of his plays. Its Preface was a prescient poem by Ben Jonson, a former rival of Shakespeare, that hailed Shakespeare with the now famous epithet: "not of an age, but for all time".
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
March 30, 2014
Many years ago I foolishly bet one of my drinking comapnions in a bar that Shakespeare's "The Tempest" was *not* a comedy. Since this was in the years before the Internet, the bet was settled by crossing the street to a local bookstore and finding a book which purported to be an “authority” on Shakespeare. I lost, because my opponent was smart enough to find an author with a traditionalist view of the line between tragedy and comedy (no one dies: it’s a comedy). Had we been fortunate enough to locate this volume, it would have provided us with the concept of “tragi-comedy” and we’d have had a whole new argument to settle.
I bring that up because it seems to me that the real value of this edition of four Shakespeare plays is the analysis provided by David Bevington and his fellow-editors, not so much the texts of the plays themselves. These are, by and large, among the least-readable of Shakespeare’s works. They need to be seen in performance, not read alone, and this volume really is too unwieldy to work as a script for putting on performances. But, there is a good introduction to each play, some material on the history of their performance, details on the sources Shakespeare used to create the plays, and other tidbits like memorable lines and suggestions for further reading, all of which make this a useful addition to the Shakespeare fan’s collection.
Of the plays, my favorite remains “The Tempest,” which I take it was the last one Shakespeare wrote. It deals with questions of the New World and with magic and fantasy as well as the proper relationship between parent and offspring, when the child has matured to the point of independence. It is also the source-text for the science fiction classic “The Forbidden Planet,” so how could I fail to like it? After that, for me “Cymbelline” is a very good story of a man who, like Othello, unwisely doubts his mate’s chastity, but avoids the dire fate of that play’s protagonist. “The Winter’s Tale” is a good one that really needs to be seen to be appreciated, and “Pericles” has never made any sense to me at all. As the editors suggest, there are themes in all of them that suggest Shakespeare was coming to terms with his own maturity, especially questions of the proper relationship between fathers and daughters, aging husbands and their wives.
I bring that up because it seems to me that the real value of this edition of four Shakespeare plays is the analysis provided by David Bevington and his fellow-editors, not so much the texts of the plays themselves. These are, by and large, among the least-readable of Shakespeare’s works. They need to be seen in performance, not read alone, and this volume really is too unwieldy to work as a script for putting on performances. But, there is a good introduction to each play, some material on the history of their performance, details on the sources Shakespeare used to create the plays, and other tidbits like memorable lines and suggestions for further reading, all of which make this a useful addition to the Shakespeare fan’s collection.
Of the plays, my favorite remains “The Tempest,” which I take it was the last one Shakespeare wrote. It deals with questions of the New World and with magic and fantasy as well as the proper relationship between parent and offspring, when the child has matured to the point of independence. It is also the source-text for the science fiction classic “The Forbidden Planet,” so how could I fail to like it? After that, for me “Cymbelline” is a very good story of a man who, like Othello, unwisely doubts his mate’s chastity, but avoids the dire fate of that play’s protagonist. “The Winter’s Tale” is a good one that really needs to be seen to be appreciated, and “Pericles” has never made any sense to me at all. As the editors suggest, there are themes in all of them that suggest Shakespeare was coming to terms with his own maturity, especially questions of the proper relationship between fathers and daughters, aging husbands and their wives.
March 6, 2023
Love these late plays because Prospero (Shakespeare) wanted a happy ending as he was retiring, and even brought a women turned into a statue back to life. Easy reads for Fearful Shakespeare Readers.
April 30, 2024
It's Shakespeare, what do you expect?
September 23, 2017
La premessa doverosa è che Shakespeare è Shakespeare, alias qualcuno da cui la letteratura moderna non può prescindere.
I quattro "drammi romanzeschi" qui presentati non sono forse - eccettuata "La tempesta" - fra le sue opere più note. Si tratta però, indubbiamente, di pièce godibilissime. Non fra le sue più riuscite, ma godibilissime.
Sono inoltre accomunate tra loro dall'andamento generale della vicenda, che si configura come una tragedia - naufragi, figlie perdute, madri o mogli morte, guerre - ma viene infine svolta come una commedia, con agnizione conclusiva e assolutamente lieto fine.
Quello che amo di più riguardo a Shakespeare, è la sua indagine delle passioni umane e la modernità e vitalità di certi personaggi (Imogene su tutti), elemento che ripropone sempre e che ogni volta non cessa di sorprendermi.
Nutro un particolare amore per "La tempesta", ma il mio preferito fra i quattro drammi è "Il racconto d'inverno", di cui adoro la riproposizione del tema bucolico/pastorale.
Si tratta inoltre, malgrado l'apparente semplicità, di opere complesse dal punto di vista narrativo e drammaturgico, ricche di colpi di scena e di teatro.
Pensatele messe in scena, dico solo questo.
"La tempesta", in particolare.
I quattro "drammi romanzeschi" qui presentati non sono forse - eccettuata "La tempesta" - fra le sue opere più note. Si tratta però, indubbiamente, di pièce godibilissime. Non fra le sue più riuscite, ma godibilissime.
Sono inoltre accomunate tra loro dall'andamento generale della vicenda, che si configura come una tragedia - naufragi, figlie perdute, madri o mogli morte, guerre - ma viene infine svolta come una commedia, con agnizione conclusiva e assolutamente lieto fine.
Quello che amo di più riguardo a Shakespeare, è la sua indagine delle passioni umane e la modernità e vitalità di certi personaggi (Imogene su tutti), elemento che ripropone sempre e che ogni volta non cessa di sorprendermi.
Nutro un particolare amore per "La tempesta", ma il mio preferito fra i quattro drammi è "Il racconto d'inverno", di cui adoro la riproposizione del tema bucolico/pastorale.
Si tratta inoltre, malgrado l'apparente semplicità, di opere complesse dal punto di vista narrativo e drammaturgico, ricche di colpi di scena e di teatro.
Pensatele messe in scena, dico solo questo.
"La tempesta", in particolare.
July 8, 2014
What can you say that hasn't been said about the works of one of the most brilliant minds who ever lived? All superlatives elude me. Only the Ancient Greek playwrights are his equals. All others pale in comparison. Unfortunately, so many are turned-off to Shakespeare because of their introduction to him in high school. What a pity. Shakespeare is to be watched! Reading him is a poor substitute. If you can readily understand the English language of his day, he is easy to read, but few are adept at this.
November 3, 2011
Finally finished the Tempest! It's not that I don't like the story, it's just so incredibly hard to get back in to the style of Shakespeare when you haven't read it for ages. I started reading this story because I heard that it influenced Aldous Huxley's classic, Brave New World (which I have not read... yet) and thought it would be interesting. Several months later, I'm happy I read it but I think I'll go back to less demanding writing styles for a while.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews