April & Shakespeare
Shakespeare and April are intertwined – like Elizabethan hair braids. As the month of The Bard’s birth (we assume), death and anniversaries, there are so many happenings. As a lead up to the Shakespeare 451 celebrations, I’ll be posting new finds.
With 38 (counting The Two Noble Kinsmen) plays, 154 sonnets, and narrative poems, Shakespeare’s plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright. Hamlet is his most performed play. According to the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), it’s estimated that every minute of every day, Hamlet is being staged somewhere in the world. That’s astounding!
For this first post of April, I stumbled onto three worthwhile Shakespeare-related reading resources in the HathiTrust Digital Library that were new to me. Click the pages to turn or the arrow to change format. Enjoy!
Time in the Play of Hamlet by Edward P. Vining / © 1885
The Life of Shakespeare by F. E. Halliday / © 1961
Shakespeare and Italy by Jack DiAmico / © 2001