Introducing Shakespeare

Introducing Graphic Guides

by Nick Groom

William Shakespeare's absolute pre-eminence in contemporary Western culture and society is simply unparalleled. His plays pack theatres and provide Hollywood blockbusters with scripts; his works are considered fundamental to the teaching of English literature. He has given us many of our words, and defined much of how we think. How did this happen? Who decided that Shakespeare deserved such adoration? Can an Elizabethan playwright really be so relevant today, or are there other forces at work? Introducing Shakespeare looks at how 'The Bard' has been worshipped at different times and in different places, demonstrating to what cultural and political ends Shakespeare has been put, and explaining the intensity of current critical disputes. After centuries Shakespeare still remains the battlefield on which our very comprehension of humanity is fought out.

Genres: Nonfiction, Shakespeare, Comics, Biography, History, Graphic Novels, Literature

175 pages, ebook

First published July 8, 1997

About the author

Nick Groom, known as the “Prof of Goth,” is professor of English at Exeter University, UK. His previous titles include The Gothic: A Very Short Introduction, and The Seasons: A Celebration of the English Year, which was shortlisted for the Katharine Briggs Folklore Award and came runner-up for BBC Countryfile Book of the Year.

Reviews

[Dr. Appu Sasidharan (Dasfill) · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are someone with no literature background but want to know more about Shakespeare, this book will be a decent choice. It will help you learn more about Shakespeare and his works so that you can understand which are his best works to start reading Shakespeare.
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[Aleksandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Comprehensive, well-written and informative. The illustrations are an entertaining way to follow the traces of Shakespeare's vibrant life, while getting to learn about his successors and contemporaries. As a result of that, readers will definitely identify the real Shakespeare with ease.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok, a little disappointing....I don’t think an e book is the best format for this kind of thing....

[Atri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Critics have puzzled over whether Hamlet actually slept with Ophelia - to which an old actor-manager once replied, "In our company - always!"

There have been others proposed as the author of Shakespeare's plays...[Bacon, Marlowe, Peele, Chapman], Cardinal Wosley or a gang of Jesuits. Or King James I - a claim inexplicably supported by the black Muslim activist Malcolm X. Or even Sir Philip Sidney's sister. As the comic writer Jerome K. Jerome put it "The Bacon stunt...discovered that Shakespeare's plays had all been written by another gentleman of the same name."

Leo Tolstoy noticed one effect that [Frank] Kermode finds so uncanny in Shakespeare's lines: "Shakespeare's characters...in moments of great agitation, repeat a question several times, or several times demand the repetition of a word which has particularly struck them, as do Othello, Macduff, Cleopatra and others." This repetition does what Ben Jonson admired in Shakespeare's verse four centuries ago - the lively turning of familiar material: "turne the same, And himselfe with it", and us with it too - turning us into human beings...

[Anna Papageorge · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although the artwork is unique and interesting, the narration is a relentless name dropping with little mention to the literary reasons that made Shakespeare's fame reach such magnitude.

Ex. "More subtle were John Payne Collier's forgeries. Collier (1789-1883) fabricated supplementary historical material, and eventually annotations in a copy of the Second Folio that had supposedly belonged to Thomas Perkins, a colleague of Shakespeare's who had corrected the text."

It's clear that a lot of research went into this book, but, believe me, I will withhold exactly zero information from the above passage, and little to none from the rest of the book.

[Jonas Keen · Rating 3 out of 5]

3/5 - Es war in Ordnung. Eine kurze, prägnante, teils witzig gehaltene Zusammenfassung zu Shakespeares Dramen, seinem Leben, seinem Wirken und Nachleben und seiner Adaption und Verwendung in der Moderne.
Grundsätzlich habe ich einiges mitgenommen, habe mich aber auch nicht von der Schreibweise oder ähnlichem so sehr catchen lassen, dass ich dem Buch mehr Sterne geben möchte.

[Bardha]

informative and dramatic

[Kevin de Ataíde]

An entertaining introduction to one of the great names of English literature. Unfortunately, as the author points out several times, we really don't know much more about Shakespeare than his baptism and death, because of church records. The man is a phantom, living and working at a time when originality was not valued as much as anonymous teamwork. There are numerous references to 'bardolators,' that is, fanatical followers of the bard. The author pokes fun at the way S. George's day has been picked for Shakespear's birthday and at the way that commentators and biographers have seen what they have wanted to see in the largely unknown life of Shakespeare. We may compare this phenomenon to the various 'historical Jesuses' that have been created in the last several decades.



Well, the best part of this book are the illustrations and caricatures of Shakespeare and various commentators and figures of English literature made by an artist given only by the name of 'Piero'. This book is part of the well produced Introducing series; the other I've read is a general Western philosophy book that I thought was, well, a worthy introduction to a difficult subject. Enough; this is a Super Review.

[Abigail Walker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unfortunately this book didn’t interest me as much as I hoped it would. Whilst the illustrations were entertaining and added some humour to the text, it otherwise fell a bit flat for me.

I’m an early modernist so already had some knowledge of Shakespeare but hoped I’d receive some new information after reading this book… sadly that wasn’t the case. Whilst the book started off with some interesting facts about Shakespeare it then went on to use words such as ‘possibly’ and ‘maybe’ which showed a lot of ambiguity. Whilst Shakespeare’s history is rather ambiguous I’d hoped for some more information on him that wasn’t just conjecture.

Furthermore, I felt the book tried to cover too much. There were many chapters on different topics but the majority of these chapters were brief and barely covered a page. For example, I study queer theory so was excited to see it mentioned in this book. However, that section was tiny and only mentioned how Shakespeare’s writing has been queered without delving into any detail or examples.

Overall I was disappointed with this book. If you want something quick and entertaining to read then I’d recommend it, but if you’re looking for detailed information on the Bard you’ll be left disappointed.

[Radwa · Rating 4 out of 5]

أنا قرأت النسخة العربية و هي ترجمة حمدي الجابري، وكانت طريقة الطباعة سيئة نوعاً ما رغم أنه صادر عن المركز القومي للترجمة، لأن الكتاب معظمه على شكل كوميكس ملونة و تم تصويرها بطريقة سيئة و كمان أبيض / أسود .. معرفتش أستمتع بالكتاب فعلاً

المهم الكتاب بيتضمن تاريخ شكسبير، حياته، كتابته لأعماله، وفاته، الجدل بعد وفاته على أعماله، وتحوله لظاهرة عالمية.
شكسبير من أكثر الكتاب اللي بحبهم، بجانب أشهر اعماله وهي "روميو و جولييت" قرأت له أعمال عظيمة تخليني أنبهر بكاتب زي ده زي "العاصفة" و "تاجر البندقية" و "ماكبث" و "هاملت" و غيرهم كتير!
لكن هتفضل المعضلة الأبدية "هل شكسبير هو اللي كتب الحاجات دي بجد؟ إزاي و هو مكنش متعلم ولا أرستقراطي زي ما مسرحياته بتبين؟ إزاي عرف أسرار ملكية و هو كان مجرد ممثل ولد في سترافورد و عاش في لندن وعلاقته بالعائلة المالكة لم تحدث إلا بعد شهرته؟" أعتقد الإجابة على الأسئلة دي عمرنا ما هنعرفها، وأعترف أني شكيت ولو لفترة ما في انه اللي كتب الأعمال دي
لكن بعيداً عن تأليف كل كاتب كتب سيرة ذاتية أو كتاب عنه وإضافة جزء من خيالاته، أنا -حتى يثبت العكس بدليل قاطع- مقتنعة أن شكسبير هو الكاتب المسرحي العظيم ده!

[Neil · Rating 3 out of 5]

This 'Graphic Guide' to Shakespeare was an interesting idea that doesn't always work. It opens well with an introductory to Shakespeare's life and the build-up of his 'literary-legend' post death.
But the snippets from modern critiques aren't interesting.
One overlooked item was the compiling of the first Folio. How all his plays were pulled together for that first publication is an interesting piece of literary history. If that effort didn't take place we wouldn't have most of Shakespeare's works today.

[Suni Lundström · Rating 3 out of 5]

While reading about Shakesperean interpretation throughout the ages, I was again in tune only with the Romantics, in that they were the only ones to discuss aesthetic principles rather than fanatically stick to their ideologies. Shakespeare, to me, should not be liable to the concept of ideology, for that limits his scope.
The book itself was not spectacular, especially when it comes to presenting information with no further explanation as to the information thus given. The illustrations are a plus, but no amount of drawings can suffice for the lacklustre performance.
Shakespeare will forever remain an enigma, therefore all manner of biographical inquiry becomes irrelevant, especially when you consider the endless speculation regarding Shakespeare - the person.
Humanity simply cannot comprehend that a man, albeit an "untutor'd" one can write such poetry. I still conclude that if a person wants to read Shakespeare, he must, for Shakespeare is self-effaced and all-encompassing, and one would not only understand the Bard but shall understand himself better.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the more useful and practical works in this series in terms of learning new information, understanding it, and likely keeping it long term. The focus is very much on the history of the audiences and interpretations of Shakespeare, rather than on Shakespeare himself or Shakespearean works. It ends up being a very strong criticism of criticism itself and the different trends, fads, and schools that pop up over time.

[Cynthia James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice, bite-sized information on all things Shakespeare

This book provides fun bite-sized information on all-things Shakespeare, accompanied by entertaining illustrations. A light read for anyone who would like an easy introduction to Shakespeare.

[Lifeisadance · Rating 3 out of 5]

A few interesting ideas

Less about his books, more about history. Some history about Shakespeare, which not much is known and how his books were interpreted since they were written in different times to the modern days

[Sudhir Dalal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Frankly disappointed by this thumbnail introduction to Shakespeare and what others thought of him and his works. Kindle is not the right medium for such work. I had to sit with a magnifying glass to read the graphics.

[Faisal · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short entertaining guide to Shakespeare's life and the effects along with controversies associated with his works.

I came to know of three groupie Shakespearean traditions, and haven't made up my mind to which I belong yet:
(1) Bardolatry (Bardolaters)
(2) Shakespearotics
(3) Bardbiz

[Santhosh Guru · Rating 2 out of 5]

Actually it’s quite boring. I expected it to be an intro or a 101 to appreciate the works of the bard. But this was a barrage of facts and trivia meant for researchers and academics interested in Shakespeare. Not my book of choice to get introduced to the works of William Shakespeare.

[Andy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a pretty good book. It covers Shakespeare's life and then the latter half of the book goes on to talk about how Shakespeare has been interpreted through the ages. Overall, I found it fairly interesting.

[Gary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Learned a few things but found it a little dry.

[Siti · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant review and interesting point on the authenticity of his writing made similer to King Jame's Bible's.

[Vikram Ketkar · Rating 2 out of 5]

Graphic guide was a new concept for me. however, the illustrations are a bit difficult to read when you have the kindle copies. overall exciting titbits on the life of Shakespeare.

[Jay · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think for a book that’s called “introducing Shakespeare” it assumes that you already know quite a big about the bard and his plays

[Michael P. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I suppose this book does little harm, but there are a number of assumptions presented as facts including that old chestnut that the death of Hamnet Shakespeare as the inspiration for HAMLET. Too much is made of Shakespeare as a put-up national hero, when that emphasis may be a passing phase, and the history plays are not read against the background of other history plays of the era leading to some folly. Real scholars, and author Nick Groom is one, make some of these mistakes. I would like my students to avoid them, though, and so would not recommend this book as a Shakespeare primer, but really, 90% or more of the book is just fine and the mistakes, with the exception of reading too much Shakespeare biography into his work and the whole St. George thing, which is debatable, are non-systematically presented. Not an awful book, but it should be better.

[Phoebe Macdonald · Rating 2 out of 5]

Being a huge fan of the "introducing..." series, I was really dissapointed by this. I came expecting a graphic book explaining the common themes/techniques in his work, and it was 90% a biography. Not only that, but a biography that didn't relate to his works at all. A bit frustrating. Though one good point was that it had an alternate version of Hamlet's sonnet that was very interesting.

[Icon Books · Rating 5 out of 5]

Much more than a biography or a guide to his plays and sonnets, "Introducing Shakespeare" is tour through the world of Will and concludes that even after centuries, Shakespeare remains the battlefield on which our very comprehension of humanity is being fought out.

[Rick Sam · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really thought that this would give me an introduction to his works. However, this goes on to explain what others think of Shakespeare from 16th Century till now. Not worth your time if you want to read introduction to his works.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written like a comic book, but still puts out the info about Shakespeare and his life.

[Vikas Datta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most comprehensive, and beautifully presented...

[Kayleigh · Rating 3 out of 5]

wow, quite good but I tought that the whole topic was Shakespears life and his plays. But no. It was more about why we read Shakespear...
So 3 stars for that. Loved the drawings.