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Off the shelf

Book excerpts, reviews, author interviews, and reading recommendations
The sanitized Shakespeare of Mary Lamb and Henrietta Bowdler - Excerpt: 'Shakespeare's Lady Editors' by Molly Yarn
Lamb's Tales from Shakespeare
Shakespeare and Beyond

The sanitized Shakespeare of Mary Lamb and Henrietta Bowdler - Excerpt: 'Shakespeare's Lady Editors' by Molly Yarn

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Shakespeare & Beyond

As anyone who has read Shakespeare’s plays can attest, their content is not always very appropriate for children: brutal murders, bawdy jokes, incest, etc. Editions of Shakespeare’s plays that have been designed specifically for children often omit or smooth over…

The unlikely link between a sixth-century queen and Macbeth
The Dark Queens
Shakespeare and Beyond

The unlikely link between a sixth-century queen and Macbeth

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Shakespeare & Beyond

While working on a dual biography of Brunhild and Fredegund, Shelley Puhak stumbled across a connection between these medieval queens and Shakespeare.

Excerpt: 'A Fine Madness: A Christopher Marlowe Murder Mystery' by Alan Judd
A Fine Madness cover
Shakespeare and Beyond

Excerpt: 'A Fine Madness: A Christopher Marlowe Murder Mystery' by Alan Judd

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Shakespeare & Beyond

Elizabethan playwright Christopher Marlowe may not be as famous as his contemporary William Shakespeare, but his death at age 29 was far more dramatic — an argument over a bill that led to a stabbing, with the killer successfully pleading…

The world of Italy in Shakespeare's comedies - Excerpt: Shakespeare and the Comedy of Enchantment
A scene that takes place in Venice in Italy
Shakespeare and Beyond

The world of Italy in Shakespeare's comedies - Excerpt: Shakespeare and the Comedy of Enchantment

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Shakespeare & Beyond

Charles Cattermole. A scene from The Merchant of Venice. 19th century. Folger ART Box C368.5 no.1 (size S) Italy is the setting most associated with Shakespeare’s comedies, providing layers of dramatic potential that Kent Cartwright explores in an excerpt from…

Excerpt: Learwife by J. R. Thorp
Shakespeare and Beyond

Excerpt: Learwife by J. R. Thorp

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Shakespeare & Beyond

Picking up where Shakespeare’s King Lear ends, a new novel imagines the life of Lear’s wife, who in this telling has been banished for 15 years when she receives word of her family members’ deaths. Learwife by J.R. Thorp gives…

Excerpt: Culinary Shakespeare
Shakespeare and Beyond

Excerpt: Culinary Shakespeare

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Shakespeare & Beyond

Eating and drinking were of central importance to Shakespeare and his contemporaries. Culinary Shakespeare, the first collection devoted solely to the study of food and drink in Shakespeare’s plays, reframes questions about cuisine, eating, and meals in early modern drama.…

Excerpt: The Private Life of William Shakespeare
Shakespeare and Beyond

Excerpt: The Private Life of William Shakespeare

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Shakespeare & Beyond

Lena Cowen Orlin, the Folger Institute’s former Executive Director, illuminates key parts of Shakespeare’s life in her new book, from his father and his wedding to his home, will, and memorial bust; the replica of the bust shown here is…

Some spellbinding October reads
Shakespeare and Beyond

Some spellbinding October reads

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emma poltrack

As we enter the year’s spookiest month, explore a trio of contemporary novels that involve early modern witchcraft. Much has changed since the deadly witch hunts of Shakespeare’s era, and the contrasting approaches of these books are a good way…

The origins of the English history play - Excerpt: The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare and War
Shakespeare and Beyond

The origins of the English history play - Excerpt: The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare and War

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Shakespeare & Beyond

What is the English history play? “A dramatic study of civil conflict in England,” writes David Bevington in this excerpt from the newly published Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare and War. “Above all, its purpose is to explore the causes, the…

Excerpt: 'Shakespearean' by Robert McCrum
Shakespeare and Beyond

Excerpt: 'Shakespearean' by Robert McCrum

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Shakespeare & Beyond

When Robert McCrum began his recovery from a life-changing stroke in the 1990s, he discovered that the only words that made sense to him were snatches of Shakespeare. The First Folio became an endless source of inspiration for “journeys of…

Excerpt – ‘All's Well’ by Mona Awad
Shakespeare and Beyond

Excerpt – ‘All's Well’ by Mona Awad

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Shakespeare & Beyond

Mona Awad’s new, darkly funny novel All’s Well tells the story of a theater professor who is convinced that staging All’s Well That Ends Well will remedy all of her woes. Along the way, she meets three strange benefactors with…

Excerpt - Shakespeare and Forgetting - by Peter Holland
Shakespeare and Forgetting cover
Shakespeare and Beyond

Excerpt - Shakespeare and Forgetting - by Peter Holland

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Shakespeare & Beyond

Shakespeare and Forgetting by Peter Holland considers how Shakespeare explores the concept of forgetting and how forgetting functions in performance. The excerpt below focuses on the character of Sir John Falstaff, who appears in several of Shakespeare’s plays. Why do…

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