Name: The Merchant of Venice By William Baker (Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, USA)
SKU: 9780826473295
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The Merchant of Venice Summary

The Merchant of Venice: Shakespeare: The Critical Tradition by William Baker (Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, USA)

A wide-ranging survey of critical responses to Shakespeare's masterpiece. The Merchant of Venice has always been one of Shakespeare's most popular plays. However, the critical tradition reveals sharply divided opinions, reflecting the tremendous capacity of the play to provoke discussion among its readers and audiences. This volume collects the work of over seventy commentators writing between 1775 and 1939 (when the first signs of Nazi anti-Semitism are noted). They include well-known critics and scholars, such as Hazlitt, Ruskin, Furnivall, Brandes, Moulton, Stoll, Spurgeon, Wilson Knight and Middleton Murry, but also little-known writers who addressed the Jewish issues in the play with some authority: George Farren, Israel Davis, Sidney Lee, Charles Salaman, 'El Seyonpi', F. S. Boas, Israel Gollancz, Gerald Friedlander, and Cecil Roth. In addition, reflecting the play's great popularity in the theatre, this collection documents four celebrated interpretations of Shylock (Macklin, Kean, Edwin Booth, and Henry Irving), and two of Portia (Helen Faucit, Ellen Terry).

The Merchant of Venice Reviews

"'Shakespeare, the Critical Tradition' is an immensely useful and important series. As Vickers states, scholarship is in danger of losing the criticism of the previous 150 years because of the amount of modern criticism and the rejection of previous schools of criticism. By bringing together scholarly and performance-based essays from 1775 to 1939, Baker and Vickers assure that this will not happen to the rich and varied history of The Merchant of Venice, and their choices are uniformly excellent...Summing up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty; general readers." - Choice, March 2006 * Choice *
"Shakespeare, the Critical Tradition" is an immensely useful and important series. As Vickers states, scholarship is in danger of losing the criticism of the previous 150 years because of the amount of modern criticism and the rejection of previous schools of criticism. By bringing together scholarly and performance-based essays from 1775 to 1939, Baker and Vickers assure that this will not happen to the rich and varied history of The Merchant of Venice, and their choices are uniformly excellent. However, this reviewer was quite disappointed with Vickers's preface, which is strongly biased. In a collection such as this, works should be allowed to stand on their own. Vickers instead argues openly and strenuously not only for reading Shylock as a comic villain but also for the claim that one does great damage to the play and to Shakespeare by attempting any other reading. This presumes a specific view of Shakespeare, plays, and characters in general, and a point of criticism with which many readers will not agree. The strident preface may stop some from discovering the riches contained in the rest of the volume. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty; general readers." -- A Castaldo, Widener University * Choice Reviews.online *

About William Baker (Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, USA)

William Baker is Presidential Research Professor, Department of English, at Northern Illinois University. He is the author/editor of numerous books and his The Letters of Wilkie Collins was honoured by Choice as one of 2000's most outstanding books.

Additional information

Sku

NPB9780826473295

ISBN 13

9780826473295

ISBN 10

0826473296

Title

The Merchant of Venice: Shakespeare: The Critical Tradition by William Baker (Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, USA)

Author

William Baker (Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, USA)

Series

Shakespeare: The Critical Tradition

Condition

New

Binding type

Hardback

Publisher

Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

Year published

2005-03-01

Number of pages

480

Prizes

N/A

Cover note

Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.

Note

This is a new book - be the first to read this copy. With untouched pages and a perfect binding, your brand new copy is ready to be opened for the first time

The Merchant of Venice William Baker (Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, USA)

The Merchant of Venice by William Baker (Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, USA)

Summary

The Merchant of Venice Summary

The Merchant of Venice: Shakespeare: The Critical Tradition by William Baker (Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, USA)

The Merchant of Venice Reviews

About William Baker (Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, USA)

Additional information

Customer Reviews - The Merchant of Venice