Title: The Shakespearean imagination.
Authors: Holland, Norman N. 1927-2017.
Publisher: Macmillan,
Year: 1964
Subjects: Shakespeare, William, Criticism and interpretation.
Abstract: Hollands book examines basic issues as how to read a Shakespearean play; why one play is better than another; to what extent we can think of Shakespeare's characters as living people; what are the great themes and symbols that dominate he plays and how they evolved through his play writing career. The book provides an up-to-date summary of the facts of Shakespeare's life and theater, showing how the conditions of that theater affected the products of his imagination. The book establishes two approaches: looking at the plays through the eyes of the age in which Shakespeare lived and wrote and looking at the plays simply with our twentieth century selves.
Contents: Shakespeare and his theater -- After 1616 -- The theater in the mind -- Macbeth -- Romeo and Juliet -- The merchant of Venice -- Henry IV, part I -- Julius Caesar -- Hamlet -- Twelfth night -- Othello -- Measure for measure -- King Lear -- Antony and Cleopatra -- The winter's tale -- The tempest -- Afterthoughts.