Charles and Mary Lamb have delighted generations of adults as well as children with their famed prose renderings of Shakespeare's originals. Bringing the plays to life in a form that encourages readers to enjoy and explore, Tales from Shakespeare provides an entertaining and informative introduction to the great works while retaining much of Shakespeare's lyricism, phrasing, and rhythm. It is a captivating work of Romantic storytelling as well as the original literary homage to the Bard.
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1854. Part One of Five. English essayist and poet, Charles Lamb (pen name Elia), studied at Christ's Hospital where he formed a lifelong friendship with Samuel Taylor Coleridge. When he was twenty years old Lamb suffered a period of insanity. His sister, Mary Ann Lamb, had similar problems and in 1796 murdered her mother in a fit of madness. Mary was confined to an asylum but was eventually released into the care of her brother. Lamb became friends in London with a group of young writers who favored political reform including Percy Bysshe Shelley, William Hazlitt and Leigh Hunt. This volume contains essays, written under his pseudonym Elia, which were originally published individually in London Magazine. The contents include the well-known A Dissertation upon Roast Pig, Dream-Children; a Reverie and more. See other titles by this author available from Kessinger Publishing.

Charles Lamb (1775-1834), essayist, poet, humorist, critic and letter-writer, has an enduring reputation for his early "Tales from Shakespeare" (1807), written in collaboration with his sister Mary, and his " Essays of Elia," first published in the "London Magazine." This thematic selection of Lamb's writings - essays, dramatic criticism, verse and letters - not only demonstrates his literary achievements; it forms a self-portrait of the writer: generous, amused, and gregarious, finding imaginative escape from grim circumstances in the teeming life of London and the theatre. The reader is drawn into the circle of Lamb's friends, enjoying the company of the most personal of English essayists. J.E. Morpurgo's introduction and notes set Lamb's writings in their contemporary context.

Charles Lamb, one of the most engaging personal essayists of all time, began publishing his unforgettable, entertaining Elia essays in the
in 1820; they were so immediately popular that a book-length collection was published in 1823. Inventing the persona of “Elia” allowed Lamb to be shockingly honest and to gain a playful distance for self-examination. The resulting essays touch upon a wide range of compelling subjects from the deliciously humorous “Dissertation upon Roast Pig” to the poignantly reflective “New Year's Eve.” Yet collectively they also comprise a fascinating personal memoir, veiled under the pseudonymous disguise of Elia. Now back in print with a new foreword by the distinguished personal essayist Phillip Lopate and with useful annotations,
will provide a delicious stylistic treat for all readers.

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No better introduction to William Shakespeare's dramatic masterpieces exists than the delightful prose adaptations of Charles and Mary Lamb, first published in 1807. The two selected 20 of Shakespeare's best-known plays and set out both to make them accessible to children and to pay enthusiastic homage to the original works. Together the Lambs distilled the powerful themes and unforgettable characterizations of Shakespeare's plays into elegant narratives--classic tales in their own right. Charles took responsibility for such powerful tragedies as Othello , Macbeth , Hamlet , and King Lear , while Mary worked on the comedies: brilliant fantasies like A Midsummer Night's Dream and The Tempest , and thought-provoking plays like Measure for Measure , Cymbeline , and The Merchant of Venice . As the authors point out in their introduction, their versions of the tragedies tend to rely on the language of the original plays, while the comedies are more freely adapted. But all of the Lambs' stories--with their clear, supple, and rhythmic prose--reward any reader, whether encountering Shakespeare for the first time or revisiting his work. This edition of Tales from Shakespeare is reproduced from one first published in 1909 and features 12 full-color paintings and many drawings by the renowned illustrator Arthur Rackham. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Includes: The Tempest - A Midsummer Night's Dream - The Winter's Tale - Much Ado About Nothing - As You Like It - Cymbeline - The Two Gentlemen of Verona - The Merchant of Venice - King Lear - Macbeth - All's Well that Ends Well - The Taming of the Shrew - The Comedy of Errors - Measure for Measure - Twelfth Night - Timon of Athens - Romeo and Juliet - Hamlet - Othello - Pericles