Comedies, vol. 1: Volume 1 (Everyman's Library) [Hardcover]

William Shakespeare (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 10, 1995

(Book Jacket Status: Jacketed)

Shakespeare forged his tremendous art in the crucible of his comic imagination, which throughout his life enveloped and contained his tragic one. His early comedies—with their baroque poetic exuberance, intense theatricality, explosive bursts of humor, and superbly concrete realizations of the dialects of love—capture as in a chrysalis all that he was to become. They provide a complete inventory of the mind of our greatest writer in the middle of his golden youth.

This volume contains The Comedy of Errors, The Taming of the Shrew, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Love's Labor's Lost, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and it's companion piece, Romeo and Juliet, which Tony Tanner describes in his introduction as "a tragedy by less than one minute." The texts, authoritatively edited by Sylvan Barnet, are supplemented with textual notes, bibliographies, a detailed chronology of Shakespeare's life and times, and a substantial introduction in which Tanner discusses each play individually and in the context of Shakespeare's oeuvre.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

All thirteen of Shakespeare's wonderfully entertaining comedies are contained in this handsome collection, which celebrates the common threads of our humanity, still unchanged from the Bard's own time: the battle between the sexes; the nature of love and friendship; the rule of law and private morality. With occasional complications from disguises, mistaken identities, love triangles and even fairy intervention, these plays continue to speak to new generations with immortal lines such as Lysander's in A Midsummer Night's Dream: "the course of true love never did run smooth. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 800 pages
• Publisher: Everyman's Library (July 10, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679443630
• ISBN-13: 978-0679443636
• Product Dimensions: 5.3 x 1.7 x 8.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,305,969 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon in April 1564, and his birth is traditionally celebrated on April 23. The facts of his life, known from surviving documents, are sparse. He was one of eight children born to John Shakespeare, a merchant of some standing in his community. William probably went to the King's New School in Stratford, but he had no university education. In November 1582, at the age of eighteen, he married Anne Hathaway, eight years his senior, who was pregnant with their first child, Susanna. She was born on May 26, 1583. Twins, a boy, Hamnet ( who would die at age eleven), and a girl, Judith, were born in 1585. By 1592 Shakespeare had gone to London working as an actor and already known as a playwright. A rival dramatist, Robert Greene, referred to him as "an upstart crow, beautified with our feathers." Shakespeare became a principal shareholder and playwright of the successful acting troupe, the Lord Chamberlain's Men (later under James I, called the King's Men). In 1599 the Lord Chamberlain's Men built and occupied the Globe Theater in Southwark near the Thames River. Here many of Shakespeare's plays were performed by the most famous actors of his time, including Richard Burbage, Will Kempe, and Robert Armin. In addition to his 37 plays, Shakespeare had a hand in others, including Sir Thomas More and The Two Noble Kinsmen, and he wrote poems, including Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece. His 154 sonnets were published, probably without his authorization, in 1609. In 1611 or 1612 he gave up his lodgings in London and devoted more and more time to retirement in Stratford, though he continued writing such plays as The Tempest and Henry VII until about 1613. He died on April 23 1616, and was buried in Holy Trinity Church, Stratford. No collected edition of his plays was published during his life-time, but in 1623 two members of his acting company, John Heminges and Henry Condell, put together the great collection now called the First Folio.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great binding, good commentaries, March 1, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Comedies, vol. 1: Volume 1 (Everyman's Library) (Hardcover)

We all know about Shakespeare, so a review of his writing is not required. However, I would like to say that the Everyman's Library series are worth getting. Unlike omnibus editions (such as the Riverside Shakespeare), these are actually portable so you don't need a table to hold them up while you are reading. The Everyman's Library series have good hardbindings, are conveniently sized to carry around, and have illuminating and extensive introductions. The typeface used is old, but the letters are large and easily readable (something that is a concern with some other editions).

Comedies, Volume 1 contains: The Comedy of Errors; The Taming of the Shrew; The Two Gentlemen of Verona; Love's Labor's Lost; Romeo and Juliet; A Midsummer Night's Dream

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's Wonderful to have all the comedies in one volume, January 20, 2005

By 

S. Schwartz "romonko" (alberta canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: William Shakespeare: The Comedies (Literary classics) (Hardcover)

I love all Shakespeare's work, and it was wonderful to have all the comedies in one volume. It does allow for character development of some of Shakespeare's recurrent characters. My favourite one of these is Falstaff, and he appears in a number of these comedies. The book that I read had all fourteen comedies in it. I have read each one of these at different times, and some more than once, but I sat down and had a Shakespeare comedy fest when I bought this volume. I love all Shakespeare's work, and a collected version of all his works would certainly be on my "desert island book list", and the comedies are my second favourite genre of the three that he used for his plays. I will do individual reviews of three of my favourite comedic plays, but I enjoy them all very much. My three favourites (and believe me, it's hard to pick three) are "The Comedy of Errors", "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and "The Merry Wives of Windsor". Each one of his many plays have numerous wonderful quotes that are still used and recognized today. I personally feel that a reader can't love great literature if that reader does not love Shakespeare too.

5.0 out of 5 stars Some characteristics of Shakespearean comedy, January 19, 2006

By 

Shalom Freedman "Shalom Freedman" (Jerusalem,Israel) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: William Shakespeare: The Comedies (Literary classics) (Hardcover)

I do not know Shakespeare's comedies very well. Yet I do understand that they are remarkable in their presentation of the passions of youth and love, in their expression of the lighter sides , and the happier ones of human life. I know that they often involve multiple plots, mistaken identities, star- crossed lovers, or lovers who are somehow interfered with by scheming elders. They often have multiple plot strands. I know that they may link high and low society, may have in them much which brings about laughter, and that they usually have a happy ending of some kind in which order is brought out of disorder- often their end is a wedding.
I believe I myself have never really gotten the spirit of Shakespearean comedy perhaps because even though I read them when I was chronologically young, I was never truly young in spirit.
I nonetheless could appreciate the depth and beauty of the language of the plays.
The plays have given generations upon generations of humanity, pleasure and delight. And I believe that most readers will find this is their experience also.