Asimov's Guide to Shakespeare

by Isaac Asimov, Rafael Palacios (Illustrator)

Shakespeare's genius is marked by his rare ability to appeal to theatergoers of all types and all levels of education. But for most modern folks, the Greek and Roman mythology & history, let alone the history of England and the geography of sixteenth-century Europe that his works are laden with, are hardly within grasp. Isaac Asimov comes to make obscure issues clear to the layperson, selects key passages from 38 of the great bard's plays plus two of his narrative poems and, with the help of beautifully rendered maps and figures, illuminates their historical and mythological background.

[Note: This edition includes two volumes published in one binding but separately paginated. Vol. 1 has 670 pages; Vol. 2 has 843 pages. Separate indexes to each volume are at the end of Vol. 2.]

Genres: Shakespeare, Nonfiction, Reference, History, Classics, Literature, Literary Criticism

1513 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1970

About the author

Works of prolific Russian-American writer Isaac Asimov include popular explanations of scientific principles, The Foundation Trilogy (1951-1953), and other volumes of fiction.

Isaac Asimov, a professor of biochemistry, wrote as a highly successful author, best known for his books.

Asimov, professor, generally considered of all time, edited more than five hundred books and ninety thousand letters and postcards. He published in nine of the ten major categories of the Dewey decimal classification but lacked only an entry in the category of philosophy (100).

People widely considered Asimov, a master of the genre alongside Robert Anson Heinlein and Arthur Charles Clarke as the "big three" during his lifetime. He later tied Galactic Empire and the Robot into the same universe as his most famous series to create a unified "future history" for his stories much like those that Heinlein pioneered and Cordwainer Smith and Poul Anderson previously produced. He penned "Nightfall," voted in 1964 as the best short story of all time; many persons still honor this title. He also produced well mysteries, fantasy, and a great quantity of nonfiction. Asimov used Paul French, the pen name, for the Lucky Starr, series of juvenile novels.

Most books of Asimov in a historical way go as far back to a time with possible question or concept at its simplest stage. He often provides and mentions well nationalities, birth, and death dates for persons and etymologies and pronunciation guides for technical terms. Guide to Science, the tripartite set Understanding Physics, and Chronology of Science and Discovery exemplify these books.

Asimov, a long-time member, reluctantly served as vice president of Mensa international and described some members of that organization as "brain-proud and aggressive about their IQs." He took more pleasure as president of the humanist association. The asteroid 5020 Asimov, the magazine Asimov's Science Fiction, an elementary school in Brooklyn in New York, and two different awards honor his name.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_As...

Reviews

[Jean-marcel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Forget Cliff's Notes, Cole's or any other crap that you think might help you get through those Shakespeare plays in highschool. this is really what you need. Although I always counted myself fortunate in that I seemed to take to Shakespeare's cadenced language in a very natural way from the beginning, I realise that not all students were/are so lucky, and that further assistance may be needed, especially in matters of historical analysis and so on. Asimov takes you by the hand in a thorough and uncondescending manner, explaining references, background, language and a whole host of other areas that may be of relevance as you study Shakespeare's work. These volumes instantly made me feel more confident about knowing and understanding the plays than did my teachers. Throughout highschool we did one or two Shakespeare plays every year, and since then I've read several more that our classes never covered. I've kept these books through all this time and often refer back to them. Highly recommended.

[Dana G · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great resource, but most of the info I found in this book was included in the footnotes of my Riverside Shakespeare, along with the convenience of having the info on the same page as the text it references or clarifies. Asimov’s guidebook is great as long as you have a copy of the play nearby to continually cross reference.

[Patricia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book should be required reading for all non-English majors. (English majors should take it on themselves to read it.) It's also great if your grounding in ancient Greek history, ancient Roman history, mythology, and early-to-middle English history is weaker than it should be (and it probably is--remember, "Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it").

Basically, the book is just fun to read. Asimov's light wit and appreciation of irony, his understanding of human nature, all fall into perfect step with the same attributes from the arguably greatest English writer ever. Without particularly making literary comment (Asimov claims not to be qualified to do so) on the plays, he takes every literary, historical, or mythological allusion in each of the plays from the first to last and explains them all so that the modern reader who has virtually no training in mythology or history can understand and/or relate to.

It's obvious from Asimov's tone that he adores sharing information with people, and that sense of fun comes across in every sentence. Even if you don't sit down and read the book from start to finish, it's a handy-dandy reference for those hard-to-get bits of Willy's work, and it beats the hell out of Cliff's Notes.

[Lindsay · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't know if this is the decades-old version I have checked out from the library right now, but I'm assuming it's close enough. Holy cow. I've only read about 30 pages into the Julius Caesar portion, but I MUST buy this book. I do believe I have feigned reading Shakespeare until now. Holy cow. Silly me--I thought Asimov was just a Sci-Fi guy.

------
I bought this book.

[Scott Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human by Harold Bloom

Shakespeare After All, Marjorie Garber,

Asimov's Guide to Shakespeare, Vols. 1-2, Isaac Asimov


I don’t normally review three books at once but I think it makes sense in this instance. I have been reading these books together that are similar in scope and therefore worth discussing together.

One of the things I love most about Shakespeare is that I believe his plays talk to three different time periods. They speak to the time period of the characters especially in the histories, they speak to the time period they were written and then they speak to the time period they are being read or performed.

I have been working for a couple years on three books that discuss each of the 38 Shakespeare plays. I believe they are best read as companions as you work your way through Shakespeare’s catalog which I suspect is what most do. When I decide to read a play, I also read the corresponding chapters from Bloom, Garber and Asimov to help highlight the themes and to better understand the plays in their context. Sometimes I read these before reading the play so I have a better understanding of what I’m reading and sometimes I like to read the play first to see what I think are the keys and then see if the experts agree.

What I found really enjoyable from all three writers was how they all focused on different themes or points from a play making it worthwhile to read all three books.

So how are they different.

The Invention of the Human -Harold Bloom’s is one of the most famous literary critics and Shakespeare scholars of all time and certainly knows his subject. I think anybody who is really trying to better understand Shakespeare should have his book as a resource, but I will say its my least favorite of the three. Bloom is brilliant and I think he wants to make sure the reader knows it which I find annoying, He is also prone to absurd exaggeration, you don’t need to look and further than his title proclaiming that “Shakespeare invented the human”.

Shakespeare After All, Marjorie Garber is a well known Shakespeare professor at Harvard. I feel like Professor Garber equals Bloom in Shakespearean knowledge but presents it in a much less pretentious way. The book is based on her lectures at Harvard and definitely reads like a literary course in Shakespeare which I say as a complement. If you are only going to buy one of the three books to support your reading of Shakespeare this is the one that I would recommend.

Asimov's Guide to Shakespeare, Vols. 1-2, Isaac Asimov is one of the most prolific writers of the 20th century but he is most known for his science fiction writing. I have actually never read his other works and to be honest I’m not sure how I stumbled across this book but I love it. Its my favorite of the three and I actually bought a second copy to keep in my car as my car book that I can read anytime I find myself with some time to read away from the house. Asimov focuses much more on the history that the history plays are based on or the source material for the other plays. I happen to love history which is why this is my favorite of the three but I don’t recommend it over Garber’s because I assume most people looking for one companion to Shakespeare might prefer Garber’s more typical literary analysis but Asimov’s book is a great read that I highly recommend.

[Jordan Ayers · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am nowhere near having finished this somewhat reference-y book, but have noticed that there seems to be a large amount of people claiming that Asimov is here to help you "understand Shakespeare". Rather, he does not do much of that at all, in the literary sense. Asimov's 'Guide' only contains portions of each play in which there are references to mythology or history that is no longer common knowledge to the modern day student (or leisurely reader, as rare as the leisurely Shakespeare reader may be in modern times).

I feel, in any case, it's very important to understand that Asimov is not here to explain 'how to understand' Shakespeare. He's here to clear up and make plain any allusions within, with a very educating set of notes- that sometimes explains far more than you ever asked for.

[Jeff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Much like current books/film rely on audience knowledge of history and pop culture to tell a story or joke, Asimov explains those references as it relates to Shakespeare's work. Interesting to those who know WS's work, twice as interesting for those who don't. I'm the latter...

[Mary Overton]

Commentary on Hamlet:
"The history of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden during the Viking period before the time of Sven I is shrouded in darkness. We have nothing but legendary material ....
"The legendary material reaches us in a book written about 1200 by a Danish historian, Saxo Grammaticus, whose history of Denmark comes down to 1186. It is a Danish analogue of such British histories as that of Geoffrey of Monmouth, and gives an account of some sixty legendary Danish kings....
"Included in Saxo Grammaticus' tales is a bloody one concerning a prince he called Amlethus. It includes a dead father and a usurping uncle, and Amlethus must feign madness while plotting a revenge he finally achieves." pp. 79-80

"There is no reason to speculate as to whether Hamlet was REALLY mad or only pretending. Of course, he was pretending. He says so. Nor is there any mystery as to why he was pretending. It was an extremely sensible thing to do, if we remember to interpret the event not in accordance with the prejudices of our time, or even Shakespeare's, but of the considerably earlier time of Saxo Grammaticus' chronicle, from which Shakespeare inherited the madness.
"In pagan times a madman was thought to be touched with the divine and was respected and even feared a little. If Hamlet were mad, any action which in a sane man might have seemed a suspicious move against Claudius' safety might be dismissed as a senseless antic. Furthermore, Claudius would find it difficult to take any action against a mad Hamlet under any circumstances, for the gods would then be displeased and evil might befall the entire nation." pp. 105-106

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the few ways to read a Shakespeare play. Like I said in my review of Julius Caesar, Shakespeare just expects his readers to understand certain historical information and background points that is simply not common knowledge in today's world. Asimov actually does a fantastic job giving a VERY in depth account of the background history of all of the important lines (or anything of note, really) of every scene within the play and expounds upon the different things that the characters say. This made the play much more understandable and much more interesting to teach. I only read the section (most of it, anyway) on Julius Caesar, but I believe he goes through every Shakespeare play in this book. I really wish I had this book when I took my Shakespeare class while at BYU.

[Ryan McGurk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, I said I was prepared to read a Shakespeare play a week... turns out I wasn't. I read 4 of the 8, which is just shy of what I wanted to achieve. However, scrambling online and in libraries to find an edition every week that had good enough footnotes that were not too cumbersome was very hard. I looked for editions whose footnotes had done the Elizabethan vocabulary and historical context fairly well, and whose footnotes didn't sit in blindingly small print at the bottom of the page. I hated looking at the bottom of the page and losing my place whenever I needed to reference a footnote. I ended up going with the Cliffs edition, not the Cliff Notes, but the actual full-text play published by Cliffs had pretty good in-line footnotes that didn't disturb the reading process too much. Occasionally they would lack definitions for important vocabulary words, and their after-scene summaries were much too heavy, and I'm just thankful I found Asimov's guide. I have no clue how I came across it, maybe on reddit, but it's a gem. It doesn't include full-text and is very light on the cool "literary, plot, and formal analysis" bits, but luckily i was able to get that type of analysis from my class with Stephen Dickey — his lesson plans were very conversational and not super directed, but man did he have some brilliant points, and was ready for every single question. However, I think Asimov's Guide is the most helpful thing for deciphering Shakespeare's allusions. His breakdowns on Shakespeare's current-day references, Pre-Modern European History, and Classical Greek and Roman stories, were to die for. They beat a google search and they definitely beat your fancy-ass Folger, Arden, Riverside, or whatever you're using. He looks at every single play and reviews the historical allusions as they happen chronologically. I've been looking for something like this for a while that has really cool bite-sized explanations of what would have been "common educational, worldly knowledge." Admittedly, I've always been fond of the elitist, posh school teaching model of studying battle history and the classics exclusively, and I can finally get my own version of that in this text. Asimov's writing style is never dry, and he does a fantastic job situating these allusions in the context of Shakespeare's play and what he would have meant by the allusion. Of course I didn't read all bloody 1500 pages, and the length makes it quite hard to flip back and forth through, but this is a must-read, regardless. For the shorter plays his analysis spans 10 quick pages, but on longer plays, they span up to 80 fricken pages. It's still important stuff for sure, and you can use it for very specific instances in the text as opposed to reading the whole analysis. Volume 1 consists of: Greek, Roman, and Italian plays, and Volume 2 consists of: the English plays. I am happy to give anyone my digital, OCR’d (searchable) pdf, if they ask for it :)

[Tom Stamper · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book you can go back to again and again for insight into the plays and to understand their histories. Asimov's take on Hamlet attempts to clear up the motivations and sanity of the lead character. His King John explains how Shakespeare used history to comment on current events. The reading of Shakespeare itself makes a lot more sense after understanding the background from Asimov.

[Melinda · Rating 4 out of 5]

We were deep in our Shakespeare plays not long ago, watching every version of Hamlet we could get our hands on, comparing different actors who played Claudius or Hamlet or Henry IV, creating our dream team and matching the best actors with the best parts... and this would have been a GREAT resource for us.

Very much enjoyed the fun and perceptive viewpoint that Asimov brings to each play. I didn't read the entire thing, but picked those favorite gems and read to see what Asimov's perspective brought to them.

[Megargee · Rating 5 out of 5]

At the Friends of the Library used book sale, Asimov's Guide first stood out because of its bulk -- almost 3 inches thick and over 1500 pages long -- and its price -- at $2.00 it cost more than twice any other book at the sale's price. I read perhaps half a dozen of Shakespeare's plays back in high school and over the years have seen a similar number performed in various media.
In recent years I have wished I had a greater exposure to the Bard but was not motivated enough to actually tackle any of the plays, especially unaided. I have read and enjoyed Asimov in other contexts, most recently his guide to physics, and enjoyed his erudition and his explanation of difficult subjects. I decided that if I am going to tackle more Shakespeare, at age 80 I better get started. Short of enrolling in a Shakespeare course, Asimov's Guide seemed the best vehicle to do so.
Thus far I have read one play, Macbeth, first reading the commentary on an act and then the actual text (which is not included). Without the Guide and its explanations of the historical context of the play, such as the fact it was written for James I, a descendant of Banquo leading to distortions in the actual history of the times, as well as explanations of the language, I would not have finished or enjoyed the play. From time to time I plan to read other plays... they are all here waiting.

[Zachary Waltz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Asimov's Guide is valuable for providing the historical context for each work. I have found no other work with near as good an overview on the historical context of each play, especially the history plays. His etymologies are often insightful, and the maps are also the best I've seen also.

Julius Caesar

As Americans, you assume the Roman Republic is democratic like we are and Caesar is a dictator like a modern autocrat. Know something about the Roman Republic: there was vast swathes of the population that was not enfranchised. Asimov points out that Caesar is usurping the power of the senators, a limited body. The people are not usurped because they never had power to begin with. 

The Republican faction is on the side of the senate, aristocratic and conservative. Caesar, while being a dictator, is helping the people, and he is more progressive (democratic?) in doing so…

[Von · Rating 3 out of 5]

I balked when I first saw this on a bookseller's shelf. This thing is a BEAST. I mean, I'm all about big thick books that can double as a step to reach the highest shelf in the closet but damn...I'll be needing +8.00 readers by the time I get through it. And this isn't exactly "quickie" reading. This is a book that makes you want to spend serious time and attention to it. I don't think I've ever had such a high maintenance book before. It is a grand "fleshing out" perspective, a wordy cliff-notes kind of reference, which might be especially handy to use as a bone-up before attending a performance (for those of us who enjoy William, but don't go about quoting long passages from Richard III).

[Philip · Rating 4 out of 5]

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 reference books. When I pick up the next play in my Shakespeare reading list, I start by reading the relevant section in the reference books, and also to refer back when necessary to get the background, history of performance and literary criticism.

[Cassie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked up this book because I wanted to see what Isaac Asimov, world-renowned science fiction author and former chemist, would have to say about Shakespeare. It's an incredibly thorough examination of themes and subtext for the majority of Shakespeare's plays. This book does assume a fair amount of familiarity with Shakespearean text, so I wouldn't recommend it to someone just getting their feet wet.

[stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn't actually read the entire thing because it is HUGE, but it is a great reference if you're studying Shakespeare and you want some really smart, in-depth analysis. I believe both volumes are no longer in print, but used copies are easy to find. This book is a must have for fans of Shakespeare, literature students, and English teachers.

[Kathleen Mck · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good reference work.

[JV Maric · Rating 5 out of 5]

Asimov's the man: concise, engaging, delightfully acerbic where he needs to be, but readers beware - for something labeling itself as a complete "Guide" about one writer's lifework, one would expect elaboration on almost every aspect of a given Shakespearean play - extra-contextual, yes, but also introspective and in terms of the history of art.

However, similarly to Asimov's "Guide to the Bible", it is obvious that Asimov is - by far - the most interested in talking about the geography (settlements, mountains, rivers, etc.) and genealogy (fictional or real-life) in particular. If you go into this expecting in-depth societal context, or literary/lyrical analysis, you will be disappointed.

This book is best served as a shallow-water side companion explaining Shakespeare's general inspirations, specifically the historical and topological conceptions of the 1700s world, and any deeper meta-lyrical analysis should be found elsewhere.

[Mark F]

Shakespeare has immortalized the rakehell Prince as he has immortalized the gallant young Hotspur, and no possible debunking in this book or any other can wipe out the Shakespearean picture and replace it with what is, after all, merely truth.

He sensed that Falstaff was going to make a tremendous hit and he was human enough to want to milk the character for all it was worth. So he decided, midstream, to make Falstaff carry two plays rather than one. He ended the original play after the Battle of Shrewsbury and decided to write a sequel. If this was what happened, events proved Shakespeare right.

[Meenakshisankar M · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an incredibly informative way of getting introduced to Shakespeare's plays. Asimov packs a lot of background and context to all the plays, the plots, and even specific lines to explain the references, points out anachronisms, and even digs into the philosophical and literary intentions of the bard. It was a great read, never boring and quite the comprehensive intro Shakespeare's work that I was looking for.

[Trish · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have been trying to read the Complete Works of Shakespeare and desperately needed some guidance. This helped somewhat, but still left me adrift when it came to the histories. All in all, I can recommend it, as long as the reader realizes it may take additional information to put the histories in context.

[Jon · Rating 2 out of 5]

The research is very outdated now, but it was interesting to have all the allusions and references explained, and how much the history plays deviated from actual history (a lot). I did get the impression that Dr. Asimov wasn't actually a Shakespeare fan ...

[Raffi O’Keefe · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this book. It has given me a much deeper appreciation of his works and of how politics impacted his plays. Learning that Richard the 3rd was not a true villain was wonderful. I would recommend this book to anyone wanting a deeper understanding of Shakespeare.

[Steve Schwartz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent companion to Shakespeare's plays. For each play, Asimov explains every obscure reference and metaphor and outlines the action and characters in a clear and non-jargon way that is very user friendly.

[Maggie · Rating 4 out of 5]

VERY thorough... Maybe a little too much in some spots.

[Bill Berg · Rating 3 out of 5]

https://beingbeliefbehavior.blogspot....

[Julie Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

When Scott and I discussed Hamlet recently, it prompted me to request Asimov's Guide to Shakespeare from the library. Rose laughed when she saw it because, like most people, she thought of him solely as a science fiction author. However, Isaac Asimov wrote over 400 books during his lifetime, many on factual subjects. I'd glanced through his guides to the Old and New Testaments and found them informative, even if I felt he sometimes over-reached in conclusions about theology. Indeed, our pastor told me that he sometimes uses those books as reference materials for historical context.

In the Shakespearean case, I was delighted with the material on the plays I sampled in Asimov's book. Asimov explains possible sources for Shakespeare's story ideas, gives historical context which includes maps and family trees, and explains cultural ideas that the audience would have understood at the time but that may escape us. This includes every literary, historical, or mythological allusion explained so that we don't have to wonder what's being gotten at.

Asimov also gives his commentary on the plays as he explains the story.

... It isn't generally pointed out that Claudius' predicament in this play is exactly that of Hamlet. Hamlet wants to kill the King, but the King wants to kill Hamlet. Neither is safe as long as the other is alive. But the King, as well as Hamlet, cannot take the simple road and simply kill. The King is but new on the throne and can scarcely yet feel secure; to kill the son of the preceding King would easily raise enough hostility against himself to hurl him from the throng. Just as Hamlet needs to do more than merely kill the King, but must gain the throne too, so the King needs to do more than merely kill Hamlet, but must keep the throne too.

The comments are generally insightful although I sometimes felt he was over-reaching or reflecting too much thinking from the 1970s when he was writing. The frequent, though usually brief, attribution of close male friendship to homosexuality is one of those moments when we must recall we are under no obligation to agree with everything. And those moments are few and far between.

Asimov's style is fresh and personable, while his knowledge is encyclopedic. You can tell he loves these plays and is having a good time talking about them. And we have fun reading him. This is indeed a wonderful reference which anyone will treasure while diving into Shakespeare.

[chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

summa shakespearia

personally i find asimov's fiction to be a bit dry (almost brittle in style when compared to bradbury or vonnegut) and lacking the momentous revelations (on politics and religion) of frank herbert. a big exception would be his tremendous short story, "nightfall", perhaps the greatest of the genre.

however, you have to give the man credit for both the breadth and volume of his writing, especially in the realm of non-fiction. as a professor of biochemistry, asimov expectedly churned out layman's science books ("understanding physics" is a fantastic calculus-free reference) and as a writer he had plenty to say about his favorite works of fiction. besides his annotated copies of don juan, paradise lost, gibert and sullivan, and gullivers travels, there is the bible-sized asimov's guide to the bible and this newly discovered (for me) gem, asimov's guide to shakespeare.

asimov groups the plays together by setting (greek and roman, italian, english) and orders them chronologically (in terms of play's internal timelines, rather than the order of composition), commenting on key passages, allusions and important bits with clarity and wit. plus it's filled with maps and weighs about 1/2 as much as the infamous norton guide.