Charles Lamb, Mary Lamb

Tales From Shakespeare

With 29 illustrations by Sir John Gilbert plus notes and authors' biography (Aziloth Books)

• Broschiertes Buch

Produktbeschreibung

First published in 1807, Tales from Shakespeare derives from Charles and Mary Lamb's great love of, and familiarity with, Shakespearean drama. This collection of plays was written to introduce young readers to Shakespeare and to encourage them to read his works in their original form. The authors selected twenty of the famous bard's thirty-seven plays and employed a prose style that is true to the tone and language of the Elizabethan era, occasionally interweaving a verse or two in the text to give a taste of the real thing. Shakespeare's skill at distilling time-honoured themes of love, envy, avarice, honour, nobility and mercy is showcased within plots that are funny, tragic or romantic - and often in a combination of all three. There are mischievous characters up to comic pranks, while others endure painful transformations: from trusting and loving to doubtful and jealous, from honourable and trustworthy to villainous and unreliable - but then, in a climactic epiphany, find their way back to their true selves. Or sometimes not, as in the case of the more violent and bloody tragedies like Macbeth. The Lambs' abridged version of Shakespeare's plays are riveting stories in themselves and to this day children and adults alike are drawn to their first taste of Shakespeare via this enjoyable introduction.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Aziloth Books
• Seitenzahl: 210
• Altersempfehlung: 13 bis 18 Jahre
• Erscheinungstermin: 1. März 2017
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 234mm x 156mm x 12mm
• Gewicht: 327g
• ISBN-13: 9781911405412
• ISBN-10: 1911405411
• Artikelnr.: 47734896

Autorenporträt

Charles Lamb (10 February 1775 - 27 December 1834) was an English essayist, poet, and antiquarian, best known for his Essays of Elia and for the children's book Tales from Shakespeare, co-authored with his sister, Mary Lamb (1764-1847). Friends with such literary luminaries as Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Robert Southey, William Wordsworth, and William Hazlitt, Lamb was at the centre of a major literary circle in England. He has been referred to by E. V. Lucas, his principal biographer, as "the most lovable figure in English literature" Lamb was born in London, the son of Elizabeth Field and John Lamb. Lamb was the youngest child, with a sister 11 years older named Mary and an even older brother named John; there were four others who did not survive infancy. His father John Lamb was a lawyer's clerk and spent most of his professional life as the assistant to a barrister named Samuel Salt, who lived in the Inner Temple in the legal district of London. It was there in Crown Office Row that Charles Lamb was born and spent his youth. Lamb created a portrait of his father in his "Elia on the Old Benchers" under the name Lovel. Lamb's older brother was too much his senior to be a youthful companion to the boy but his sister Mary, being born eleven years before him, was probably his closest playmate. Lamb was also cared for by his paternal aunt Hetty, who seems to have had a particular fondness for him. A number of writings by both Charles and Mary suggest that the conflict between Aunt Hetty and her sister-in-law created a certain degree of tension in the Lamb household. However, Charles speaks fondly of her and her presence in the house seems to have brought a great deal of comfort to him. Some of Lamb's fondest childhood memories were of time spent with Mrs Field, his maternal grandmother, who was for many years a servant to the Plumer family, who owned a large country house called Blakesware, near Widford, Hertfordshire. After the death of Mrs Plumer, Lamb's grandmother was in sole charge of the large home and, as William Plumer was often absent, Charles had free rein of the place during his visits. A picture of these visits can be glimpsed in the Elia essay Blakesmoor in H-shire.