Shakespeare: Othello

by John Wain (Editor, Introduction )

Alongside critical articles by Thomas Rymer, Samuel Johnson, Coleridge and A.C. Bradley, John Wain has collected together a wide range of contemporary articles. This edition is brought up-to-date with contemporary essays by John Bayley, Anthony Brennan, Karen Newman and Christopher Norris. Other contributors include T.S. Eliot, G. Wilson Knight, W. Empson, F.R. Leavis, N. Coghill, J. Bayley and C. Norris.

222 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 1969

About the author

John Barrington Wain was an English poet, novelist, and critic, associated with the literary group "The Movement". For most of his life, Wain worked as a freelance journalist and author, writing and reviewing for newspapers and the radio.

Wain was born and grew up in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, the son of a dentist, Arnold Wain, and his wife Annie, née Turner. He had an older sister and a younger brother, Noel. After attending Newcastle under Lyme High School, he entered St. John's College, Oxford, gaining a first in his BA in 1946 and MA in 1950. He was a Fereday Fellow of St. John's between 1946 and 1949. On 4 July 1947, Wain married Marianne Uffenheimer (b. 1923 or 1924), but they divorced in 1956. Wain then married Eirian Mary James (1920 - 1988), deputy director of the recorded sound department of the British Council, on 1 January 1960. They had three sons and lived mainly in Wolvercote, Oxford. Wain married his third wife, Patricia Adams (born 1942 or 1943), an art teacher, in 1989. He died in Oxford on 24 May 1994.

Reviews

[Eleni · Rating 3 out of 5]

Because I am thinking about the character Iago, I found William Empson's "Honest in Othello" and Anthony Brennan's "Iago, the Strategist of Separation" the most interesting sections. The word "honest," used so many times in the play, especially to refer to Iago, was in the process of shifting meaning during the 16th-17th centuries - I just spent some time in the OED myself to track some of those changes and the word's etymology. Brennan clearly lays out the differences between the source (Cinthio's novella) and Shakespeare's play, tracks how much interaction key characters have with others, and discusses Iago's idea of Venetian's being "actors" or "playing a role" as a means to turn Othello from Desdemona.

[Lazarus P Badpenny Esq · Rating 4 out of 5]

Useful collation of critical responses.