Imagining Shakespeare by Stephen Orgel


Imagining Shakespeare
Title : Imagining Shakespeare
Author :
Rating :
ISBN : 1403911770
ISBN-10 : 9781403911773
Language : English
Format Type : Hardcover
Number of Pages : 192
Publication : First published June 12, 2003

In this beautifully illustrated book, one of the foremost Shakespeareans of our time explores the ways in which Shakespeare has been imagined from his time to ours. In a penetrating series of interpretations, Stephen Orgel explores the ironies and paradoxes that have characterized the reconstruction of Shakespeare's texts, his image, the staging and illustration of his plays over the past four centuries, as he is perennially reinvented for new cultural ends. Drawing on performance history, textual history, and the visual arts (including a fascinating chapter on portraiture), Imagining Shakespeare displays throughout the cultural versatility, elegance, lucidity, and wit which have become the hallmarks of Orgel's style.

Imagining Shakespeare Reviews

  • Philip

    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.

  • Annie

    This is my first serious foray into Shakespearean discussion and criticism (which, considering this is sort of a conversational, table-top book, isn't that impressive), and I have to say, I don't recall exactly what I expected, but this definitely wasn't it. This book took me some pretty unexpected places (Italian Renaissance erotic art, anyone?), and I loved every second of it. It was a lot of fun, and I enjoyed myself immensely. Coming away from the book, I feel as though I have a better sense of the complex interplay between Shakespeare the person, Shakespeare the concept, the play itself, the actors, and the audience. Or, at the very least, I can now acknowledge this interplay exists.

  • John Jr.

    A concise, stimulating reminder that the meaning of "Shakespeare," even what we think he looked like, has varied over time. This idea is more or less a consequence of the historicism that arose in the 19th century, hence it's not original with Orgel, but his demonstration ranges across textual history, portraiture, and the history of performance and design. The book's illustrations, even in the black-and-white versions of my advance uncorrected proofs, are rewarding in themselves.