Tales from Shakespeare

http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/1794123.html

It's really very good - a retelling of Shakespeare's dramas, which are not really easy reading for today's reader (or even the reader of 1807) in digestible prose, aimed at sophisticated teenagers. It's surprising what is censored and what is kept in, given how we tend to imagine nineteenth-century senisibilities - the blinding in King Lear is out, and the detail of Antiochus' incest (and Marina's life in the brothel) in Pericles, but so for some reason is the entire Malvolio subplot in Twelfth Night. However, the immorality laws of Vienna in Measure for Measure are explained, and so is the detail of Macduff's birth in Macbeth (of course an important plot detail but one that could have been show more worked round with imagination). Knowing what I now do about the authors, I was also struck by the sympathetic treatment of mental illness in the summary of Hamlet, which sets a good example rarely met in later literature. Strongly recommended. show less

Well this is one way to end a relatively fruitful Shakespeare catch-up month… It started off strong with Hamnet, kept going decently with Titus Andronicus (even though it’s ridiculous, it is source material, so it can stay), and even though there were a few DNFs to cross off the reading list I was still in a hopeful mood when I cracked the spine on this book. Lamb’s Tales from Shakespeare, specifically the Arthur Rackham illustrated edition, was high on my thrift hunting list so I was pretty excited when I finally scooped a copy a little bit ago and was waiting for the perfect time to delve into their “classic” adapted tales for children. Unfortunately almost from the get go I was disgusted with their interpretation of show more Shakespeare’s stories… Sure, some of the premise and characters were there, but gone was the Shakespearean subtlety, wit, and drama and instead we’re left with infantilized moral tales unsuitable for any but the most vapid child. Starting off were two potentially strong tales, that even with the ribaldry taken out had plenty of room for highjinx and entertainment - the Tempest and a Midsummer Night’s Dream - but the stories were told in such a drab manner that all of the sparkle of magic was completely taken away. After that point I focused entirely on enjoying Rackham’s illustrations, so as not to ruin any beloved stories or spoil the ones I haven’t gotten to yet. This specific edition didn’t have the best versions of his colour work, being a Book of the Month club publication, and their placement was a bit arbitrary, but the simple line work for story headers and enders was well-reproduced and the paper quality was surprisingly lush. With a smidge more effort on the part of the colour reproductions (and a replacement of the atrocious travesty of text) this book actually would have been a solid example of an illustrated classic, as its size and weight was just about perfect for reading and it’s a great size to sit displayed on a shelf! show less

Such a slender little volume and how apparently unimportant. After all, if one reads seriously, why a collection of retold versions of the bard aimed at school children. Ah, but they are witty and to the point and entirely delightful.
Recently I have been reading something that extolled the virtues of Charles Lamb, so I have been feeling the need to fill in the gaps in my education caused by a far too liberal education. And I have been intrigued by the stories of Mary Lamb, who was a sad and sorry case. This little edition seemed a likely introduction.
Ah, well, with the strongly worded warning that the retelling of the Merchant of Venice is distasteful to be kind, may I say that this is a blithe book. I want to buy it for any student who show more is slogging through class readings without the guide of an inspired teacher. Heck, I want to buy it for all sorts of people who don't get Shakespeare. The two authors quote a smattering of stirring speeches, carefully chosen and in enough quantity to whet and not slake a taste for dialogue.
Most of the big plays, the tragedies are the sphere of Charles Lamb, while the comedies belong to his sister. She has a wry wit that flutters happily through Puck, Benedick, Rosalind and she pitches her tone to be as a confident to the reader.
On another point,I really like the cover and want to see more Sadowski. show less

Shakespeare is pretty hard to follow when read just as text. His plots are complex and characters numerous. And Charles Lamb set out to turn them into straightforward stories. He seems to have achieved this aim because his book is still being produced and read 200 years later. It suffers a little bit in that the language has changed somewhat but by and large it still fulfils the original aim...to make the stories from Shakespeare, more readily accessible.This particular book is enlivened by the illustrations of Arthur Rackham...some in colour and some in black and white. It is interesting that Charles Lamb felt that he was able to use direct quotes from the original Shakespeare with the tragedies but it was more difficult to use direct show more quotes with the comedies or lighter works.
I think it does the job and I've recently persuaded my sone to read Othello in this Lamb version before trying out the original Shakespeare. I have yet to see if this was a good strategy or not. But must confess that I have only dipped into the volume and have not read it from cover to cover. In many cases, i have not felt the need as I've studied a number of these plays extensively in the original, have watched live performances or TV performances, films etc.
I rather like the book and think it's worth 4.5 stars. show less

Children are not inherently stupid; nor are they incapable of processing complex emotional situations. However, the Lambs' Tales from Shakespeare is just one of the publications that has convinced adults everywhere that their poor little darling really aren't very bright, and they must be sheltered from dangerous ideas at all cost!

The cost, in this case, is a Canon King, and confidence in children's intellectual capabilities. I said this before, but I'll say it again: the Lambs present the shell of the plots, but the characters and details are horribly mangled. The language and story construction are clumsy, and I'm amazed I ever made it through the book as a young reader. I have very strong ideas about children and reading material, show more so I realize I will be in the minority in my opinions. But so they stand.

Neither of us enjoyed the latest bedtime story. show less

Yes, as many will point out, these are excellent introductions to the works of Shakespeare for young readers or older readers who never got around to reading his complete works (here the reviewer raises her hand).

What I really liked about them, though, was the way they allowed me to enjoy the stories as I would a collection of fairy tales. When you avoid the tendency to focus on Shakespeare's language these tales of kings, queens, princesses and mythical creatures are just as good as settling in with a collection of Grimm or Anderson.

I don't think I recognised when I read this 50-odd years ago how much of Shakespeare's phrasing was kept in these re-tellings for children. In these days when teachers lament how much children struggle with reading even simple short stories, I wonder how they would cope with these.