
a book
The Oxford Shakespeare
William Shakespeare · 2002 · 1344 pages
Now, almost two decades after the original volume, Oxford is proud to announce a thoroughly updated second edition, including for the first time the texts of The Reign of Edward III and Sir Thomas More, recognizing these two plays officially as authentic works by Shakespeare. This beautiful collection is the product of years of full-time research by a team of British and American scholars and represents the most thorough examination ever undertaken of the nature and authority of Shakespeare's work. The editors reconsidered every detail of the text in the light of modern scholarship and they thoroughly re-examined the earliest printed versions of the plays, firmly establishing the canon and chronological order of composition. All stage directions have been reconsidered in light of original staging, and many new directions for essential action have been added. This superb volume also features a brief introduction to each work as well as an illuminating General Introduction. Finally, the editors have added a wealth of secondary material, including an essay on language, a list of contemporary allusions to Shakespeare, an index of Shakespearean characters, a glossary, a consolidated bibliography, and an index of first lines of the Sonnets.
Compiled by the world's leading authorities, packed with information, and attractively designed, The Oxford Shakespeare is the gold standard of Shakespearean anthologies.
recommended by 10 people
sourced from public statements

Nelson Mandela
“A copy of Shakespeare’s complete works was one of few books Mandela had access to when imprisoned on Robben Island. Known as the “Robben Island Bible,” the book was smuggled in and circulated among inmates, who signed their names in the margins. Mandela wrote his next to the lines: “Cowards die many times before their deaths/The valiant never taste of death but once.””↗

J. K. Rowling
“Q. - If you could bring only three books to a desert island, which would you pack? JK.R - Collected works of Shakespeare (not cheating — I’ve got a single volume of them); collected works of P. G. Wodehouse (two volumes, but I’m sure I could find one); collected works of Colette.”↗

Ricardo Semler
“Has all of the human traits; if you look somewhere you will find it, either in King Lear or Hamlet or Macbeth; it’s there.”↗

John Irving
“I consider the plays of Shakespeare just as formative of my desire to write fiction as any novels I’ve read. He was a novelist before there were novels, a screenwriter-director before there were films. He is funny; he is tragic; he believes in developing characters; he is masterful at plot. He does everything, and he makes it all — even his glorious language — look easy.”↗






books like The Oxford Shakespeare
other books recommended by the same people who recommend this one

Holy Bible
-
3 shared recommenders

One Hundred Years of Solitude
Gabriel García Márquez, translated by Gregory Rabassa
3 shared recommenders

Catch-22: Introduction by Malcolm Bradbury (Everyman's Library)
Joseph Heller
3 shared recommenders

Moby Dick
Herman Melville
2 shared recommenders

Parting the Waters
Taylor Branch
2 shared recommenders

Project Hail Mary
Andy Weir, Ray Porter
2 shared recommenders

Thinking, Fast and Slow
Daniel Kahneman
2 shared recommenders

Wolf Hall
Hilary Mantel
2 shared recommenders

A Dance to the Music of Time: 3 Books in One Volume: A Question of Upbrininging, A Buyer's Market, The Acceptance World
Anthony Powell
2 shared recommenders

A Tale of Two Cities
Charles Dickens
2 shared recommenders

Animal Farm: George Orwell (Macmillan Collector's Library)
George Orwell
2 shared recommenders

Brave New World
Aldous Huxley
2 shared recommenders