Seeing as Veeky Forums is almost completely devoid of any kind of literary analysis what are some of your favorite books with supplemental essays, analysis, discussion, etc?
I'm a fan of Signet Classics' Shakespeare collection, the supplemental material is usually pretty nice and insightful. I also really enjoyed reading The New Oxford Annotated Bible.
Zachary Rodriguez
I have a few RSC Shakespeare editions, I like the essays at the end focusing not on the play itself, but on the history of the play in theater (plus their ebook editions are well-formatted and the annotations are actually useful)
Henry Garcia
If there's one thing I don't like about Signet Classics' Shakespeare plays is that the annotations suck ass. 95% of them are definitions of words that don't require a 3rd party to define.
I'll definitely check out the RCS's complete Shakespeare collection, thanks!
Leo Davis
I have these too, and Van Doren's Shakespeare
John Butler
my norton critical edition of Heart of Darkness is v lit. background sources, essays, criticisms, etc. so fucking tight.
James Parker
I have this guy.
Ryan Long
I'm a big fan of Frank Kermode's book Shakespeare's language. It's nice to back up from all the abstract theory and just examine how he was a fantastic writer before all else.
Isaac Morris
This, this, fucking this. The Mark Van Doren Shakespeare is also great, as it is this other book:"the poetry of shakespeare's plays", by F.E. Halliday. Harold Bloom is trash.
Easton Lewis
A companion guide should be mandatory for any publications of The Waste Land
Oliver Martinez
Do you find reading analysis/criticism aids you in reading "deeper"/having a richer reading experience?
Carson Myers
Broadview puts out good ones.
Easton Ross
Since Shakespeare is my favorite writer I have read a lot of criticism on him, and my personal list of best critical books about Shakespeare is this one (in no particular order);
>Shakespeare’s Imagery, by Caroline Spurgeon; >Shakespeare’s Language, by Frank Kermode; >Shakespeare’s Metrical Art, by George T. Wright; >The Development of Shakespeare’s imagery, by Wolfgang Clemen; >The Poetry of Shakespeare’s Plays, by F.E. halliday; >Shakespeare’s Uses of The Arts of Language, by Sister Mirian Joseph; >The Language of Shakespeare’s Plays, by B. Ifor Evans
By reading these books one develops an enormous sense of awe and wonder for Shakespeare. He was truly a colossal genius of language.
Lincoln Phillips
You know , to me there are two main species of literary critics: a) those who try to interpret what the author meant with his text and b) those who analyze the literary techniques used by the author (metaphors and similes creation, versification , metrification , the structuring of dialogue, punctuation, uses and transformation of source material, descriptions, creation of stream of consciousness: style in general).
In my opinion the critics of category (a ) ( which are by far the most abundant and the most famous - Harold Bloom, for example , is one of them ) are generally useless and, in general, pretentious : you have every reason to want to make your own understanding: who are these gentlemen to have the authority to say what the author wanted to convey through his text? If they can discover the meaning of an author’s text, we also can.
As for the critics of category (b), I must say that they are special people: they spend their whole lives doing a strenuous job than earns them no money and no fame, just for the sake of the love they have for the artists who they are analyzing. The reading of such critics should be constant for young writers: there is nothing that favors more the formation of an young author than the analysis of the bowels of the works of the masters (that and also reading and writing a lot and constantly, of course). Unfortunately critics of category (b) are few and little known (even among serious readers).
Lincoln Hughes
Good list, what is your favorite of the group?
Oliver Ramirez
Folgers shakespeare is pretty good as well
Elijah Foster
Do you think Frank Delaney from re:Joyce is in category b?
Oliver Howard
This dichotomy is weird and doesn't exist. For starters, death of the author is like one of the most significant and widespread developments of modern literary criticism - no serious critic's goals have anything specifically to do with "interpreting" what the author is "trying to convey". So no.
Jace Ramirez
What's a good edition of King Lear, with explanations and such?
Aiden Mitchell
"I don't actually read literary criticism": the Post
Daniel Sanders
oh, fuck off Bloom fag
Logan Martinez
Bloom isn't literary criticism. He's mass market "pop" crit. The fact that you think I'm a Bloomfag means you have no idea what literary criticism is.
Michael Lewis
This: is me:
So yes, I read a lot of criticism, and I find it very useful, especially for writers.