William Shakespeare's Star Wars: Verily, a New Hope

by Ian Doescher

Overview

The New York Times Best Seller

Experience the Star Wars saga reimagined as an Elizabethan drama penned by William Shakespeare himself, complete with authentic meter and verse, and theatrical monologues and dialogue by everyone from Darth Vader to R2D2.

Return once more to a galaxy far, far away with this sublime retelling of George Lucas’s epic Star Wars in the style of the immortal Bard of Avon. The saga of a wise (Jedi) knight and an evil (Sith) lord, of a beautiful princess held captive and a young hero coming of age, Star Wars abounds with all the valor and villainy of Shakespeare’s greatest plays.

Authentic meter, stage directions, reimagined movie scenes and dialogue, and hidden Easter eggs throughout will entertain and impress fans of Star Wars and Shakespeare alike. Every scene and character from the film appears in the play, along with twenty woodcut-style illustrations that depict an Elizabethan version of the Star Wars galaxy. Zounds! This is the book you’re looking for.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781594746376
Publisher:	Quirk Publishing
Publication date:	07/02/2013
Series:	William Shakespeare's Star Wars Series , #4
Pages:	176
Sales rank:	79,175
Product dimensions:	5.82(w) x 8.10(h) x 0.68(d)

About the Author

Ian Doescher is the New York Times best-selling author of the William Shakespeare’s Star Wars® series, the Pop Shakespeare series, and MacTrump. He has written for Marvel Comics and is a contributing author to the story collection Star Wars: From a Certain Point of View. He lives in Portland, Oregon, with his family. Visit him at IanDoescher.com.

Editorial Reviews

Praise for the William Shakespeare’s Star Wars® Series:

“Reverent, clever and a novel way for fans to re-immerse themselves in their beloved franchise.”—New York Times, on the series

“A quirky addition to the genre-busting canon.”—Entertainment Weekly, on William Shakespeare’s Star Wars

“A great gift for every geek you know, no matter what their passion.”—Huffington Post, on William Shakespeare’s Star Wars

“Enormous fun.”—A.V. Club, on William Shakespeare’s The Empire Striketh Back

“The writing’s quite good; elaborate Elizabethan woodcuts. . .are just icing on the cake.”—The Wall Street Journal, on William Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of the Sith’s Revenge

“At last, the mother of all mashups is upon us.”—CNET.com, on William Shakespeare’s Star Wars

“With movie Easter eggs aplenty, Bard babes and Star Wars lovers will be equally enthused.”—Brit + Co, on William Shakespeare’s The Force Doth Awaken

“Each page proves that the English language is a playground, and Ian Doescher uses every opportunity to the fullest.”—Sweety High, on William Shakespeare’s Jedi the Last

“The book is so brilliant you’ll wonder why someone didn’t think of it sooner.”—Paste Magazine, on William Shakespeare’s Star Wars

“As Shakespeare would say, you might think, this be madness, yet there is a method in ’t.”—Newsday, on William Shakespeare’s Star Wars

From the Publisher

With its warring elites, feuding families, fantastic creatures, and mythic scope, Star Wars almost seems Shakespearean. Now the Stratford Bard himself unfurls his own intergalactic epic in rolling pentameters. A jolly good mash-up for readers of every generation.

Gr 8 Up—"…In time so long ago begins our play,/In star-crossed galaxy far, far away." Inspired by the work of George Lucas and William Shakespeare, this is the story of Star Wars: Verily, A New Hope, retold as a five-act play, complete with blank verse, couplets, and Elizabethan stage directions. Even Jabba the Hutt and R2-D2 speak (or beep) in iambic pentameter. Luke, Leia, Han, Darth Vader, and the rest of the cast battle to determine the future of the galaxy while parodying various well-known lines and speeches from Richard III, Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, Julius Caesar, and Henry V. Luke's soliloquy, "Alas, poor stormtrooper, I knew ye not," accompanied by an illustration of Luke holding up a stormtrooper helmet, is a standout comic moment, as is Leia's "songs of nonny," sung as the planet Alderaan explodes. Doescher's pseudo-Shakespearean language is absolutely dead-on; this is one of the best-written Shakespeare parodies created for this audience and it is absolutely laugh-out-loud funny for those familiar with both The Bard and Star Wars. It is most likely to be appreciated by snarky AP English students and drama club members, but an imaginative English teacher could find ways to use it in the classroom to engage reluctant readers of Shakespeare. May the verse be with you! —Kathleen E. Gruver, Burlington County Library, Westampton, NJ

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