This book is an excellent resource for people studying Shakespeare academically. It made me nostalgic for my college Shakespeare class. As it's a collection of essays, I did find some of them more interesting than others, but that's to be expected. I'm still very glad to have gotten the chance to read this book. It's great for anyone who enjoys Shakespeare.

Disappeared off my list before I had time to even open it, as It got lost in my e-mails. So, sadly unable to give a review or information on my thoughts of the book.

Thanks for trying to send me a copy!

If you love Shakespeare and his writings, you'll love this book. It delves into understanding Shakespeare better for sure.

There is no end to the number of books one can find on the works or study of William Shakespeare. The name 'Stanley Wells' is certainly familiar to anyone who's read critical essays on Shakespeare. This book, <em>Shakespeare On Page and Stage</em>, is a collection of some of Wells' essays on the Bard, his work, and performances of his work.

And mostly we're left with: <em>meh</em>.

Some of these essays were interesting and from some I learned a thing or two, but the bulk of them really didn't add anything to my knowledge or appreciation of Shakespeare's plays. The book collects essays in four basic themes: 1) Shakespearian Influences, 2) Essays on Particular Works, 3) Shakespeare in the Theatre, and 4) Shakespeare's Text.

While most of this is not new information, I confess I did enjoy the 'Influences' section. For some reason I am extremely interested in reading some of the source material for Shakespeare. Was it inspiring, or convenient? We'll never know.

I also happened to be reading the essay "Staging Shakespeare's Ghosts" at about the same time that I saw a production of <em>Richard III</em> in which the ghost were featured quite prominently, and so this particular essay really stood out for me. I hadn't really thought about it before, but the supernatural definitely plays a big role in many of Shakespeare's plays.

There were a few essays that dealt with particular performances which held no fascination or interest for me. A live performance is a fleeting thing, meant to be observed in the moment. All the reports, the talk, the writings after the fact won't make me appreciate what someone once did on the stage.

The entire last section, dealing heavily with Wells and his work as an editor, more-so than with Shakespeare's work, held no appeal at all.

There's a lot of material here in this book, and there's bound to be something that will appeal to someone who has an interest in Shakespeare, but over-all this just doesn't stand up to some of the other Shakespeare criticism I've read over the years.

This volume contains the following:

Introduction by Peter Holland
I. SHAKESPEARIAN INFLUENCES
1. Shakespeare: Man of the European Renaissance
2. Tales from Shakespeare
II. ESSAYS ON PARTICULAR WORKS
3. The Failure of <em>The Two Gentlemen of Verona</em>
4.<em>The Taming of the Shrew</em> and <em>King Lear</em>: A Structural Comparison
5. The Integration of Violent Action in <em>Titus Andronicus</em>
6. The Challenges of <em>Romeo and Juliet</em>
7. Juliet’s Nurse: The Uses of Inconsequentiality
8. The Lamentable Tale of <em>Richard II</em>
9. <em>A Midsummer Night’s Dream</em> Revisited
10. Translations in <em>A Midsummer Night’s Dream</em>
11. The Once and Future <em>King Lear</em>
12. Problems of Stagecraft in <em>The Tempest</em>
13.‘My Name is Will’: Shakespeare’s Sonnets and Autobiography
4. Shakespeare Without Sources
15. Shakespeare and Romance
III. SHAKESPEARE IN THE THEATRE
16. Boys Should be Girls: Shakespeare’s Female Roles and the Boy Players
17. Staging Shakespeare’s Ghosts
18. Staging Shakespeare’s Apparitions and Dream Visions
19. Shakespeare in Planché’s Extravaganzas
20. Shakespeare in Max Beerbohm’s Theatre Criticism
21. Shakespeare in Leigh Hunt’s Theatre Criticism
22. Shakespeare in Hazlitt’s Theatre Criticism
23. Peter Hall’s <em>Coriolanus</em>
IV. SHAKESPEARE’STEXT
24. On Being a General Editor
25. Editorial Treatment of Foul-Paper Texts: Much Ado About Nothing as Test Case
26. Money in Shakespeare’s Comedies
27. To Read a Play: The Problem of Editorial Intervention
28. The First Folio: Where Should We be Without it?
29. The Limitations of the First Folio
Afterword by Margreta de Grazia
Notes
A Select Bibliography
Acknowledgements
Index

Looking for a good book? Stanley Wells is a noted Shakespeare scholar and his collection of essays, <em>Shakespeare On Page and Stage</em>, provides some insight into the playwright and his work, but nothing here is too earth-shattering or revelatory but instead is a rehash of knowledge but with Wells' take on it.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

Shakespeare on Page and Stage by Stanley Wells is a book that contains essays. The essays are divided into four sections: Shakespearian Influences, Essays on Particular Works, Shakespeare in the Theatre, and Shakespeare's text. It's going to be impossible to summarise all twenty nine essays, but rest assured that this work will give people who are studying Shakespeare plenty to chew upon.

And though this is a readable work, it is still very dense with ideas and analysis and I found that my reading speed slowed considerably while reading it. Which is a good sign, because if it's an academic work, then I expect to read slowly in order to understand what the author is trying to say.

While this isn't the best book for a reader looking to get into the analysis of Shakespeare, readers with a working knowledge of Shakespearian criticism will probably be able to understand most of what this book says. And I'm sure the academic audience will be delighted to read it.

I received this book from Oxford University Press via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review