This is the second part of my interview with
Gerry Smyth (following on from discussing my book 'What Happens in
Shakespeare's King Lear') on
BAY TV
Liverpool (
Freeview Channel 8 and
Virgin Channel 159).
In this section I was asked to recommend a favourite book and
I chose William Golding's '
Pincher Martin.' I hope you like the discussion.
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'What Happens in
Shakespeare’s King Lear' is available from any book store (just give them the
ISBN 9781-291-635-072) or order online from
The Book Depository -
http://www.bookdepository.com/What-Happens-Shakespeares-King-Lear-Nick-Buchanan/9781291635072 (free delivery worldwide)
Amazon U.K. - http://amzn.to/1mMC1zl
Amazon
U.S. - http://amzn.to/1rlQ2Jz
Amazon
Canada - http://amzn.to/1nI2vmL
Lulu Publishing - http://bit.ly/1iwP1F9
Barnes & Noble - http://bit.ly/1iwPdE8 etc
...
I hope this helps - and thank you very much, I appreciate your interest.
You might like the
Facebook page associated with the book (and all things King Lear) – www.facebook.com/shakespeareskinglear - let me know what you think.
Here are some of the
Unique aspects of this book:
• There’s a chapter on some key versions of the play (On the
Stage and On the
Page)
• There’s a chapter citing all the evidences for
Shakespeare actually being Shakespeare (Was Shakespeare Shakespeare?)
• When the pages are fanned there are markers for easy navigation (by fanning the pages one can see where Act 4,
Scene 6 is, for example)
• There’s a chapter explaining early versions (
Folio and
Quarto) etc.
• There’s a chapter for actors and directors on how to play Shakespeare.
• There are charts which show the proportion of prose to poetry, and the length of this play in relation to all of Shakespeare’s others.
• There is a 20 page flow chart in the back which identifies each characters journey through the play Act by Act and Scene by Scene – so someone playing
Lear can see at a glance which scenes they are in and which they are not as well as what key things happen for them when they are on stage.
• There’s a short piece on two of the most famous depictions of Shakespeare (The Chandos and the
Droeshout portraits)
• The attractive book design will be echoed by a follow up book on another very popular
Shakespeare play (which begins a series).
•
Difficult words are defined immediately next to the text in which they occur (so no bouncing up and down page to footnotes and noting line numbers – or worse thumbing to the back pages).
• The whole text is annotated and discussed – as a kind of walk-through guide.
•
Key themes are cross referenced and identified using exact line numbers.
• Shakespeare’s words are clearly identified (being in grey boxes and indented) and my annotations and definitions are left aligned.
I sincerely hope this book helps to illuminate Shakespeare’s amazing text.
Nick Buchanan
- published: 15 Jan 2015
- views: 172