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This Is Shakespeare
- Narrated by: Emma Smith
- Length: 9 hrs and 54 mins
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Publisher's summary
Penguin presents the audiobook edition of This Is Shakespeare, written and read by Emma Smith.
A genius and prophet whose timeless works encapsulate the human condition like no others. A writer who surpassed his contemporaries in vision, originality and literary mastery. Who wrote like an angel, putting it all so much better than anyone else.
Is this Shakespeare? Well, sort of.
But it doesn't really tell us the whole truth. So much of what we say about Shakespeare is either not true, or just not relevant, deflecting us from investigating the challenges of his inconsistencies and flaws. This electrifying new book thrives on revealing, not resolving, the ambiguities of Shakespeare's plays and their changing topicality. It introduces an intellectually, theatrically and ethically exciting writer who engages with intersectionality as much as with Ovid, with economics as much as poetry: who writes in strikingly modern ways about individual agency, privacy, politics, celebrity and sex. It takes us into a world of politicking and copy-catting, as we watch him emulating the blockbusters of Christopher Marlowe and Thomas Kyd, the Spielberg and Tarantino of their day; flirting with and skirting round the cut-throat issues of succession politics, religious upheaval and technological change. The Shakespeare in this book poses awkward questions rather than offering bland answers, always implicating us in working out what it might mean.
This is Shakespeare. And he needs your attention.
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Story
Kundera brilliantly examines the work of such important and diverse figures as Rabelais, Cervantes, Sterne, Diderot, Flaubert, Tolstoy, and Musil. He is especially penetrating on Hermann Broch, and his exploration of the world of Kafka's novels vividly reveals the comic terror of Kafka's bureaucratized universe. Kundera's discussion of his own work includes his views on the role of historical events in fiction, the meaning of action, and the creation of character in the postpsychological novel.
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Informative and Inspiring
- By Mo on 11-27-21
By: Milan Kundera, and others
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Shakespeare Was a Woman and Other Heresies
- How Doubting the Bard Became the Biggest Taboo in Literature
- By: Elizabeth Winkler
- Narrated by: Eunice Wong
- Length: 14 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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The theory that Shakespeare may not have written the works that bear his name is the most horrible, unspeakable subject in the history of English literature. Scholars admit that the Bard’s biography is a “black hole,” yet to publicly question the identity of the god of English literature is unacceptable, even (some say) “immoral.” In Shakespeare Was a Woman and Other Heresies, journalist and literary critic Elizabeth Winkler sets out to probe the origins of this literary taboo.
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Excellent!
- By Virgil Tracy on 06-03-23
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The Merchant of Venice
- Arkangel Shakespeare
- By: William Shakespeare
- Narrated by: Trevor Peacock, Bill Nighy, Haydn Gwynne, and others
- Length: 2 hrs and 16 mins
- Original Recording
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In Shakespeare's most controversial play, the opposing values of justice and mercy must be resolved. Antonio promises money to help his friend Bassanio woo Portia. He borrows the sum needed from the cruel Shylock, but there will be a dreadful penalty if the loan is not repaid. The golden world of Portia's Belmont calls forth some of Shakespeare's most lyrical love poetry. But the dark shadow of Shylock is never far from the heart of this brilliant comedy as it moves toward its courtroom climax.
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One Of Shakespeare's Best
- By M. J. Christensen on 06-07-15
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Dying Every Day
- Seneca at the Court of Nero
- By: James S. Romm
- Narrated by: Paul Woodson
- Length: 8 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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James Romm seamlessly weaves together the life and written words, the moral struggles, political intrigue, and bloody vengeance that enmeshed Seneca the Younger in the twisted imperial family and the perverse, paranoid regime of Emperor Nero, despot and madman.
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Outstanding
- By michael bobadilla on 05-04-23
By: James S. Romm
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Shakespeare by Another Name
- The Life of Edward de Vere, Earl of Oxford, the Man who Was Shakespeare
- By: Mark Anderson
- Narrated by: Simon Prebble
- Length: 10 hrs and 14 mins
- Abridged
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Actor William Shaksper of Stratford had little education, never left England, and apparently owned no books. How could he have written the great plays and poetry attributed to him? Journalist Mark Anderson's biography offers tantalizing proof that Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, courtier, spendthrift, scholar, traveler, soldier, scoundrel, and writer, was the real "Shakespeare".
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Brings the period to life
- By Dan on 01-15-06
By: Mark Anderson
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Talking About Detective Fiction
- By: P. D. James
- Narrated by: Diana Bishop
- Length: 4 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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To judge by the worldwide success of Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie's Poirot, it is not only the Anglo-Saxons who have an appetite for mystery and mayhem. Talking about the craft of detective writing and sharing her personal thoughts and observations on one of the most popular and enduring forms of literature, P. D. James examines the challenges, achievements and potential of a genre which has fascinated her as a novelist for nearly 50 years.
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Fascinating and Informative
- By Nancy J on 03-17-13
By: P. D. James
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Shakespeare and the Resistance
- By: Clare Asquith
- Narrated by: Allan Corduner
- Length: 7 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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The 1590s were bleak years for England. The queen was old, the succession unclear, and the treasury empty after decades of war. Amid the rising tension, William Shakespeare published a pair of poems dedicated to the young Earl of Southampton: Venus and Adonis in 1593 and The Rape of Lucrece a year later. Although wildly popular during Shakespeare's lifetime, to modern readers both works are almost impenetrable. But in her enthralling new book, the Shakespearean scholar Clare Asquith reveals their hidden contents.
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Excellent scholarship unveiling hidden history
- By Lumen Fidei on 07-03-23
By: Clare Asquith
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Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea
- Why the Greeks Matter
- By: Thomas Cahill
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 7 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Best selling history writer Thomas Cahill continues his series on the roots of Western civilization with this volume about the contributions of ancient Greece to the development of contemporary culture. Tracing the origin of Greek culture in the migrations of armed Indo-European horsemen into Attica and the Peloponnesian peninsula, he follows their progress into the creation of the Greek city-states, the refinement of their machinery of war, and the flowering of intellectual and artistic culture.
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Super super
- By Richard on 12-28-03
By: Thomas Cahill
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Anne Boleyn
- 500 Years of Lies
- By: Hayley Nolan
- Narrated by: Hayley Nolan
- Length: 11 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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History has lied. Anne Boleyn has been sold to us as a dark figure, a scheming seductress who bewitched Henry VIII into divorcing his queen and his church in an unprecedented display of passion. Quite the tragic love story, right? Wrong. In this electrifying exposé, Hayley Nolan explores for the first time the full, uncensored evidence of Anne Boleyn’s life and relationship with Henry VIII, revealing the shocking suppression of a powerful woman.
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Very annoying narrator!
- By momo chan on 12-02-19
By: Hayley Nolan
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The Year of Lear
- Shakespeare in 1606
- By: James Shapiro
- Narrated by: Robert Fass
- Length: 11 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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In the years leading up to 1606, since the death of Queen Elizabeth and the arrival in England of her successor, King James of Scotland, Shakespeare's great productivity had ebbed, and it may have seemed to some that his prolific genius was a thing of the past. But that year, at age 42, he found his footing again, finishing a play he had begun the previous autumn - King Lear - then writing two other great tragedies, Macbeth and Antony and Cleopatra.
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Detailed and satisfying
- By Tad Davis on 02-24-16
By: James Shapiro
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Sontag
- Her Life and Work
- By: Benjamin Moser
- Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 22 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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No writer is as emblematic of the American 20th century as Susan Sontag. Mythologized and misunderstood, lauded and loathed, a girl from the suburbs who became a proud symbol of cosmopolitanism, Sontag left a legacy of writing on art and politics, feminism and homosexuality, celebrity and style, medicine and drugs, radicalism and Fascism and Freudianism and Communism and Americanism, that forms an indispensable key to modern culture.
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Cloying voice
- By Suzanne on 11-02-19
By: Benjamin Moser
What listeners say about This Is Shakespeare
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Jedediah Parish
- 10-31-19
Engrossing
Really enjoyed both the book and Emma Smith's narration. Interesting approaches to the plays at an enjoyable intersection of scholarly research and down to earth irreverence.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Lena Chilingerian
- 04-06-23
Validation and revelation
Even with my MA in Shakespeare and Theatre, Emma Smith has put words to ideas I have not been able to vocalize effectively before now, and shown me brand new things in these works. I love this book and I will absolutely be reading/listening to it many times.
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- dpk-VT
- 06-07-19
Entertaining, up to date commentary
I’ve been traveling through Shakespeare for the last few months, reading and listening to the plays for the first time since college (a course on the histories) and high school — (R&J, Macbeth). I’m on my 25th play, and find the immersive approach works best for me. So in addition to watching some of the plays on film, I’ve also listened to lectures (mostly the Great Courses offerings) and some written commentary.
I’ve listened to about a dozen of these lectures over the last few days, and I’m impressed. They are insightful, entertaining and relevant. It is refreshing to listen to updated commentary. The #MetToo movement and fat shaming are mentioned, and obviously come to mind with Measure for Measure and Henry IV. There are some new tidbits I hadn’t yet come across (for example the black actor playing Othello interrogated for subversion during the Apartheid era in S. Africa). I highly recommend these, especially once you have read the plays. You can skip around to listen to the ones you’ve finished. They are narrated by the author.
Since I haven’t been able to find a list of the plays covered, I’ve listed the contents below:
Contents
Intro
Taming of the Shrew
Richard III
Comedy of Errors
Richard II
Romeo and Juliet
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
The Merchant of Venice
Henry IV Part 1
Much Ado About Nothing
Julius Caesar
Hamlet
Twelfth Night
Measure for Measure
Othello
King Lear
Macbeth
Anthony and Cleopatra
Coriolanus
The Winters Tale
The Tempest
Epilogue
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20 people found this helpful
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- Richard Hayes
- 09-27-19
A badass audiobook about a kickass author
Emma Smith’s Shakespeare is not the stuffy academic poet with material ready for inspirational posters at work and with the answers to Life, the Universe, and All That. Instead he is a weird, brilliantly confusing and ambiguous author whose work elicits far more questions than answers.
If you’ve tasted a bit of Shakespeare but didn’t quite “get” why so many people so deeply care about his work, or if you’ve been put off by the requirement to read a play in school which you hated, or even if you enjoy his plays but are looking for an offbeat left field analysis of the “canon,” then you have landed at the right place.
Smith has plenty of academic credentials (having written books with titles like “The Cambridge Introduction to Shakespeare’s Comedies” but this does NOT read like a textbook or sound like a class lecture.
Highly highly recommended for those who like to think about literature.
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11 people found this helpful
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- Paul Benjamin
- 08-23-19
An outstanding overview of Shakespeare
This is one of the most lucid, insightful, and interesting books I’ve ever read about Shakespeare, and if you have even a passing interest in his work, then do yourself a favor and read or listen to Emma Smith’s “This is Shakespeare.” Organized by play, the book covers a wide range of material outside the plays – the life (what we know of it) of the man, the times, the performance and publication history, literary interpretations. She deftly demonstrates the source of Shakespeare’s enduring power—how the plays evoke responses that echo our age, just as they’ve done for 400+ years.
I suspected I would like the book – I was familiar with Ms. Smith’s scholarship – but I was surprised to find I loved it, and could not wait to resume listening to it. It feels like a set of really good, well-written lectures, and she delivers her own work very well.
Highly recommended.
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5 people found this helpful
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- DDC
- 12-29-22
Clear analysis
Emma Smith does a great job reviewing and explaining the innards as well as the nuances of Shakespeare’s plays
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