King Lear (Barnes & Noble Shakespeare)

An excellent edition of Lear!

This review is not of King Lear itself (one of my two favorite Shakespeare plays, with the other being Othello), but rather on this edition of Lear (ISBN: 9781411400795), which was edited by Andrew Hadfield and David Scott Kastan.

I read a lot of heavily annotated books, and I have to say that the Barnes & Noble Shakespeare editions have one of the best book designs I've ever encountered. The various references materials (footnotes and definitions for archaic words) appear in a manner that makes the text very easy to follow.

The scholarship is also top-notch. The annotations give you enough to make things clear without insulting your intelligence, or without overburdening you with unnecessary detail. The essays are also interesting and informative.

I've been avoiding Shakespeare ever since high school, which was many years ago. Now that I'm reading him again, I'm glad I'm in such good hands. It is making the experience a joy, rather than a chore.

My compliments to the editors and the book designer. They have done a superior job of making this difficult text accessible to the modern reader. Highly recommended.

6 out of 7 people found this review helpful.

Lear doesn't need a review from me, but the B&N edition does.

The Barnes and Noble edition of the plays are my favorites to read. The format of the books is great. No jumping around to read the footnotes and text explanatory notes unless I want to. The play speaks for itself and has for hundreds of years. I highly recommend all the B&N editions of his plays.

3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

Excellent Edition

The Barnes & Noble Shakespeare editions are my favorites. The font and clean layout make them very readable and the notes are helpful without being distracting to the eye or burdensome to read. They are also very reasonably priced!

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Typo errors

The actual play
Is much interesting but with the errors of the spelling it made it reaally boringgg no wonder its for free

Another great piece of work by Shakespeare

Loved the characters the conflicts it purely evil, shows how foolish a father can be by not trusting the good daughter sadly cordelia dies :(

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Great Read!

This is another home-run by Shakespeare! A dysfunctional family in the middle of intrigue and war. A must read!

Poor Edition

Great play, this edition has been the victiom of the google books project & so contains glaring typographical errors.

Do not get. Let someone proof read first.

Terrible.

0 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Mmmmmmm

The blurb is exactly like shakespeares other book Julious something.
By the way i didng really read it and that is why i put 5 stars. It required me tp

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

One of Shakespeare's more boring plays

I bought this for a college class and really did not enjoy it at all. Even after seeing the play performed, it just dragged. I'm not sure why King Lear has so much critical acclaim, but thankfully not everyone has the same taste or opinion.

0 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

Are you kidding

Not worth 99?

0 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

I really did not like it and that is that

It was not one of Shakespears best but it was quite interesting one you look up every other word.

0 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

One of Shakespeare's Finest

This is one of my favorite Shakespearean plays. Its challenging but a great read!

yah i read --

king lear is awsome -- thought i didnt read the book -- i did hear an a audio tape -- i got it cuz i was interested in it after a 'just shoot me' eposide -- its been one of my meny favertiot books sence (excuse mey spelling please)

'A Powerful.. Electrifying.. Brilliant.. and classicly heart-wrenching play'

King Lear is William Shakespeare's most magnificent and deliciously diabolical plays of ingratitude, the intoxicating promise of power and position, and the ultimate sacrifice of love. Lear's two daughters Regan and Goneril are two monstrously malevolant women of Britain who perpetuate their father's decreasing sanity, in order to maintain power in Britain. Lear's youngest daughter Cordelia, a compassionate, loyal, kind, and wonderfully woman who is a trememdous contrast to her evil sisters Goneril and Regan. Cordelia is, an angel of goodness who is a spectacular influence and characterization of what a daughter should give and mention to her father, not out of appetite but out of conscience. The line between good and evil is faultlessly drawn in this spectacular play by one of the most ingenious writers of the human condition who ever lived.

A SHOCKING.. DISTURBING.. AND DEEPLY MOVING PORTRAYAL OF AN UNJUST UNIVERSE

Certainly the most powerful and profound of all Shakespeare's plays. This one has to do with the ungratefulness of Lear's three daughters. Gonreil, Regan, and Cordelia whom he has divided his kingdom amongst the three of them. Except, Cordelia who has estranged herself from his love. Little does he know the two daughters whom he thinks love's him most are actually wicekdly plotting against him. I thought this had to be the most triumphant play written by Shakespeare. A glorious, and overwhelming account of selfishness, ingraitude, madness, and evil amongst a family seperated by hatred.

A 'modern' reading of the play on tape and CD

<King Lear> Is there a need for yet another recording of 'King Lear'? If it is a superlative reading, then one would quote 'Reason not the need' and accept it for a great addition to a swelling library of complete Shakespeare on recordings. We still have available on Caedmon audio tapes the 1965 'Lear' with Paul Scofield in the title role with Pamela Brown and Rachel Roberts as that particularly nasty pair of sisters, Goneril and Regan. 1988 brought out the BBC Audio Book (Modern Library) with Alec Guiness, Jill Bennet and Eilen Atkins in those roles. In 1994 there was a BBC Radio set with John Gielgud, Judi Dench and Eileen Atkins (again) in those three roles; while a late addition to the Arkangel Complete Shakespeare series gave us Trevor Peacock, Penny Downie and Samantha Bond, Peacock giving a more domestic, less grand reading of the role. Now Naxos Audiobooks has released on tape and CD yet another version with Paul Scofield again, Harriet Walter (Gonerill, as it is spelled on this set), Sara Kestelman (Regan), Emilia Fox (Cordelia), Peter Blythe (Albany), and Jack Klaff (Cornwall) as the dysfunctional royal family. As the parallel set, we have Alec McCowen (Gloucester), Richard McCabe (Edgar), and Toby Stephens (Edmond). While Kenneth Branagh played the villainous brother in the Gielgud set, he is assigned the Fool in this production with David Burke (Kent) and Matthew Morgan (Oswald). The reading in the Caedmon recording is in the grand manner, more poetical than is the most recent; but this Naxos effort seems to move faster, is more dramatic (as should be no surprise) in our sense of the word in that it is more realistic, more 'modern' sounding. But I would not dismiss the older set by any means. I found Scofield less earth-shaking in this production, sounding a little more reasonable and vulnerable than in the earlier one--but after 36 years and under a new director (Howard Sackler in 1965, John Tydeman here), an actor must rethink the role. What I do appreciate is that every word in the storm scene is spoken clearly and not drowned out by the sound effects. All Drama departments should own both Scofield versions. This Naxos release is available on tape (NA324414) and CD (NA324412). It is also the best buy since Naxos is the supreme budget label.

wonderful!!!!!

I loved the language! I loved how it all came together at the end. It was kind of suspenseful. I love Shakespeare.

Fate and Shakespearean Tragedy

So I'm not exactly a Shakespeare scholar, but I still loved this tragedy. I think it's one of the best one, and it's a pity so few are put on live action show (the recent Hamlet,Henry V,Richard III,Midsummer Night's Dream, and other movies were great!). Unfortunately, some complain that it is not an official 'tragedy' because, according to A.C. Bradley, who's supposed to be some real genius, requires that Fate have little to do with any good tragedy...Yet King Lear DOES include Fate (cf. Gloucester's laments about the gods playing with human lives). So much of it that I think it's one of the main themes of the play. Unlike Bradley, I think this inevitability only INTENSES the depressing mood of the play, and to people suffering from chronic depression (like myself), the play really speaks out. Generational gaps and treatment of seniors are very relevant to our society, yet the question of Fate and the great tragedy that life can sometimes end up to be cannot be ignored in this one of Shakespeare's greatest plays. I mean, it IS a tragedy right???

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