Shakespeare Reference

For many long years, my “go-to” Shakespeare Reference has been Bloom’s de facto standard, Shakespeare: the Invention of the Human. Concise, not too stilted in one direction, good source material as an accessible reference tome.

Invention of the Human

Not long ago, I was mucking about in Shakespeare material online, and I came across a suggestion that was new – to me.

Shakespeare After All by Marjorie Garber.

Shakespeare After All

It’s a 2004 imprint, so I’m – obviously – way behind the curve on this discovery. I looked at it on Amazon, then decided that I’d wait to buy. While last in Dallas, I checked at the big Half Price Books superstore – what a wondrous place to explore dead text!

They didn’t have a copy, but the kindly counter person offered to call the other stores, and there was one in San Antonio, of all freaky coincidences. I picked up the copy, dropping the Amazon buy, as Amazon was showing a problem, plus I like the good texts that I frequently use to be hardbacks. Amazon kept trying to sell me a trade paperback.

As Shakespeare Reference? Shakespeare After All seems a bit more more even-handed, and while this next reference will be abhorrent to some scholars, the text is an excellent, “Cliff Notes” kind of quick study for me.