Robert L. Mack

i loved the Tim Burton version of the Sondheim musical, so when I saw this at the public library, I had to get it. I knew that the basic story had been around for a while, but had no idea just how far back it goes. Robert Mack does a very good job of tracking the sources for the original story published in 1847, and nicely compares the theatrical development of Sweeney Todd with the written version. The analytical discussions certainly seemed well done, but it's not my area of expertise and show more I'm probably not the best to judge in that area. The only real flaw in the work for me was the density of Mack's writing. He (or more likely, the publisher) crammed a lot of words on each page, both from tiny print and from very complex sentences. I found myself having to read sections several time to follow his discussion, especially in the more analytical areas. show less

For my course. Read the introductory tale, Sindbad, and Aladdin.

The introduction was interesting and I quite enjoyed the stories of Sindbad's seven journeys, which followed very similar narrative acts. However, Aladdin did go on a bit and did start to feel like a narrative strung out as long as possible to prolong the life of the narrator...