Asimov's guide to Shakespeare. Volume 2 : a guide to understanding and enjoying the works of Shakespeare

Highly respected and widely read author Isaac Asimov offers a fresh, easy-to-read approach to understanding the greatest writer of all time. Designed to provide the modern reader with a working knowledge of topics pertinent to Shakespeare's audience, this book explores, scene-by-scene, thirty-eight plays and two narrative poems, including their mythological, historical and geographical roots. [The complete volume] is [a] scene-by-scene exploration of thirty-eight plays and two narrative poems in terms of their mythological, historical, and geographical roots. It ... supplies the modern reader with a working knowledge of the topics which Shakespeare assumed his potential Elizabethan audience to be well versed in. [This volume] deals with the fifteen plays distinctively rooted in English history. He enhances the value of the central objective of the text as he explores the literary and linguistic history of particularly powerful Shakespearean images. He also attempts to broaden the dimension of individual characters by approximating their ages through references by Shakespeare to specific historical events.-Dust jacket Shakespeare's genius is marked by his rare ability to appeal to theatergoers of all types and all levels of education. But for most modern folks, the Greek and Roman mythology and history, let alone the history of England and the geography of sixteenth-century Europe that his works are laden with, are hardly within our grasp. Isaac Asimov comes to making obscure issues clear to the layperson, selects key passages from 38 of the great bard's plays plus two of his narrative poems and, with the help of beautifully rendered maps an figures, illuminates us about their historical and mythological background Examines The Historical, Geographical, And Mythological Background Of The Plays And Two Narrative Poems. V. 1. The Greek, Roman, And Italian Plays -- V. 2. The English Plays. Isaac Asimov ; Illustrations By Rafael Palacios. Two Volumes In One--jkt. Originally Published In 2 V. By Doubleday, New York. Includes Indexes. Explains the historical, legendary, and mythological background of 38 plays and 2 narrative poems