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The Ignatius Critical Editions represent a tradition-oriented alternative to popular textbook series such as the Norton Critical Editions or Oxford World Classics, and are designed to concentrate on traditional readings of the Classics of world literature. Whereas many modern critical editions have succumbed to the fads of modernism and post-modernism, this series will concentrate on tradition-oriented criticism of these great works. Edited by acclaimed literary biographer, Joseph Pearce, the Ignatius Critical Editions will ensure that traditional moral readings of the works are given prominence, instead of the feminist, or deconstructionist readings that often proliferate in other series of 'critical editions'. As such, they represent a genuine extension of consumer-choice, enabling educators, students and lovers of good literature to buy editions of classic literary works without having to 'buy into' the ideologies of secular fundamentalism. The series is particularly aimed at tradition-minded literature professors offering them an alternative for their students. The initial list will have about 15 - 20 titles. The goal is to release three books a season, or six in a year. The first three titles to release in April 2008 are King Lear, Frankenstein, Wuthering Heights.

One of the most popular of Shakespeare's plays, King Lear is also one of the most thought-provoking. The play turns on the practical ramifications of the words of Christ that we should render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's and unto God that which is God's. When confronted with the demand that she should render unto Caesar that which is God's, Cordelia chooses to "love and be silent". As the play unfolds each of the principal characters learns wisdom through suffering. This edition includes new critical essays by some of the leading lights in contemporary literary scholarship. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

King Lear is only a masterpiece if we undertand Shakespeare's intention
Yes, this book does not discuss the difference between Folio and Quatro, as Scanlon complains, but why is that necessary if the other critical editions have already dealt with it? This book wants to deal with Shakespeare's message rather than the medium of the message.

Ever since the 1960's, post-modernistic nihilistic commentators have viewed King Lear as a post-modernistic nihilistic play. It is a tragedy where good people die with no hope and no meaning.

But Shakespeare did not write in the 1960's. He wrote in Elisabethean England, when Catholics and Puritans were routinely executed for their faith. This was right after the Reformation. Christendom was divided between Catholics and Protestants. The British government came up with a middle way - Anglicanism, which was definitely not Catholic and not quite Protestant. This was not acceptable to manyCatholics and Protestants (Puritans). There is evidence that Shakespeare personally knew people who met their deaths because they would not compromise their religion for the government's middle way. So the issue back then was not whether there was meaning in the world. The issue was whether that the government had the right to impose on the people what that meaning should be.

King Lear wanted to retire from the throne. Normally, the heir to the throne would be the oldest child, Regan. But Lear had a special love toward his youngest child, Cordelia, and wanted to leave his throne to her. So Lear came up with a third way, just as the Elizabethean government chose a middle way. The middle way was to divide England equally for his three daughters. But he demanded from his daughters an expression of their total love and loyalty to him. The first two daughters complied. Cordelia would only love his father has much as a daughter should love his father - no more and no less.To a Christian audience at that time, this must have reminded them of Christ's admonishment that we should render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's, and to God that which is God's. The government at the time of Shakespeare was demanding from its people that they render unto the Caesar that which belonged to God - their faith. They were called the people to abandon their Catholic or Puritan faiths and submit to the Church of England with the Queen as the supreme head of the church. Those who refused were executed, just as Cordelia was banished for not giving all to King Lear.

The consequences of Lear demanding from his daughters all their love was tragic. The daughters who complied turned against Lear when Lear was no longer the king. The one who stayed loyal to Lear was the one who would not compromise. Was this a soft message to the Queen that her most loyal subjects were the ones who would not compromise their principles to her?

This was just one example of how this book opened my eyes to the message of Shakespeare in the play King Lear. There are many others. I appreciate this series' commitment to find the intention of the author, and how his contemporary audience would have understood that message. I am tired of authors being molded into the minds of their critics, instead of the authors speaking for themselves. Only by letting Shakespeare speak for himself can we understand why Shakespeare was the greatest English writer ever.

Considered with Other Editions, in response to previous review.
Amazon.com first recommended this text to me, based on my purchasing history; I did look at it before reading Scanlon's review. I am a second-year graduate student in English (Renaissance/Early Modern British literature). I have loved engaging with King Lear and continue to return to that text. I chose one of the papers I'd written on it as a writing sample for my grad school applications and also selected Lear as one of the plays for my first qualifying exam. The Norton critical editions have been useful to me (especially by providing "The History of King Lear" and "The Tragedy of King Lear" on facing pages, as well as the conflated text). I also have other editions on my shelf for reference. The most useful have been the Riverside Shakespeare and the Arden editions. (Bevington's edition was required for one undergrad class, but I have not come back to that edition lately.) Stephen Orgel's introduction to the Penguin edition motivated me to rework part of my paper, to make my argument more clear.

That said, I also have a copy of "The Illustrated Stratford Shakespeare," which contains absolutely no critical information, no textual notes, or editorial comments. I do wonder who decided which edition to include for each poem or play (especially the wildly different Lears) and on what criteria. For the non-specialist, or for a student who will not be held responsible for the publication history or critical history of King Lear, I have recommended the Dover Thrift Edition ($1.50)--as well as Olivier's film. I have not yet recommended the Ignatius edition, though I might. It is not a critical edition of the same comprehensive scope or academic rigor of such editions as the Norton, Oxford, Riverside, but not all readers need that.

Scanlon supposes the readership for this Ignatius edition to be a "home schooling or private schooling market of little literary sophistication and preparation." He perceives that Shakespeare's King Lear is somehow inappropriate for home educated students, whom he labels as "ideologically restrained."Yes, please do "imagine" such students reading "the wrenching Lear": some home-educated students have achieved a depth and breadth of historical context, analytical reading skills--indeed, even a high degree of literary sophistication! Scanlon might be surprised to know that these students do read and write about "profound" and difficult texts, even delighting in "anything among the Greeks." Such students may--and do--go beyond the initial assignment and read the Folio, the Quarto, and Tate's revision of Lear. I know they do--I did. So did a colleague. So did another friend, who did not choose to pursue literature studies at the university level. In fact, I chose to focus my analysis precisely on "the Quarto's inexorable tragic ending with the death of the innocent Cordelia." (I even keep a print of a rendition of that tragic scene in a small frame on my bookshelf.)

Of course, many other students (whether home-, private- or public-schooled) remain largely uninterested in literature; many are underprepared for reading such texts as Lear. I have worked with home-educated students, as well as at a public high school, a community college and now a public university. It is always a delight to see students engage directly with a literary classic and to become interested in the action, sometimes in spite of themselves. Even lamentably underprepared students can read this play (reading aloud can help). As they find they can understand the basics, such as the meaning of the words and the action of the play, they become more interested in discussing further. As a tutor, I found that students were more likely to become bogged down or discouraged with the text (Shakespeare's play or otherwise), when confronted with a variety of critical approaches too soon, before engaging with the play themselves.

While I am not convinced that the Ignatius edition is a necessary addition to the market, I contend that Scanlon's concerns about the content are largely unfounded. Motivated students will seek out the other primary and secondary materials anyway; underprepared students will pick up this "slim volume" and be glad of the explanatory footnotes. It is those students, after all, for whom the explanations of what Scanlon or I might call "obvious" terms were intended.

TRY THE TRADITIONAL EDITIONS LIKE ARDEN, OXFORD, PELICAN AND NORTON, ETC., INSTEAD
The sales material for this series alleges it to be firmly "traditional" without defining what possibly it might mean by this modifier. The sales pitch claims it eschews the modernist, post-modernist, feminist and deconstructivist, appealing to the literature professor intent upon a "traditional" reading, and yet in the reviews included in this slender volume we find a dialectical (i.e., Marxist) approach as well as one presenting the doubt in Faith. There is also a review employing Samuel Beckett's post-modern dramatic form of the tragicomic.

Under the three brief reviews labelled here "classic" we find one from the poet Keats upon reading Lear again (excerpted from his correspondence?), one from Johnson's well-known preface, and an excerpt from a longer old work certain to put any "traditionalist" classroom into deep, traditional and very restful slumber.

Each page includes about a third of a page of slender, well-marginated footnotes explaining uncertain and other terms, including the often obvious. There is none of the usual running comparison of Folios and Quatros found in the more traditional critical editions.

If this series were much cheaper, it might be worthwhile to purchase as a cheap alternative to the more authoritative and complete editions, which include such niceties as the history of the textual variants, etc. and the reasons for selecting one version over another, or for producing a synergy from several. The others often handle more extensively Keats and Johnson, etc.

Especially recommendable among the traditional are the ancient and honored Arden King Lear (Arden Shakespeare: Third Series) (of which I am now reading the second of a series of three, being renewed ever forty years or so), of course the old war horse King Lear (Norton Critical Editions) which is so oddly and erroneously and specifically dismissed in the sales pitch for this ideologically constrained slender Ignatius series, or King Lear (The Pelican Shakespeare), and the mighty, pre-eminent The Oxford Shakespeare: The History of King Lear (The Oxford Shakespeare).

In any case this is the play to consider in a time of tyrannical misrule by decrepit old men, coming as it here does from an editorial house of old men at Ignatius. Please see as well such excellent dramatic reproductions as Olivier's wonderful King Lear and the severely yet effectively abridged early Peter Brooks production with Orson Welles, if only for the odd cigarette comercials. It is an excellent production, an excellent Welles showing the power of his stage presence in its prime, and certain to keep that persecuted traditionalist classroom awakened, even most dangerously educated.

See as well the master cineaste Akira Kurosawa's reading in Ran - Criterion Collection. But avoid anything at all from Ignatius Press for its bizarre Opus Dei ideology, as evidenced by the sales pitch here. The brilliant, comprehensively learned, courageous and holy Saint Ignatious of Loyola certainly holds his head in shame, or in resigned laughter. Meanwhile for those seeking the latest in academic essays regarding this great and comic tragedy, this ballad from before the Romans brought writing to the western isles (mutilating torture by tyrants is as old as King Lier, as new as a baby Bush), seek out and snatch King Lear: New Critical Essays (Shakespeare Criticism); for those burdened with bringing the tragedy of the forgetful, trusting elderly, whose hand doth smell of mortality, to youthful scholars more suited to Romeo or Hamlet, try not only the Welles mentioned above, but especially the King Lear (Graphic Shakespeare) (Shakespeare Graphic Library). The excellent Peter Brooks Scofield version at King Lear [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.2 Import - Great Britain ] may be far too graphic and laden with Bergman. Thus for SCofield the voice-only may serve best, either in the CAedmon 1968 apparition William Shakespeare KING LEAR [Unabridged Audiocassettes] or the more recent version by the excellent if octogenarian Scofield at King Lear (Naxos AudioBooks). Recordings with Sir Gielgud or Sir Guiness are also available easily upon this amazon.

Yet, whatsoever you may do, do avoid Ignatius! The shameful presumptuousness casts doubt upon the credibility and academic rigor of this entire series of "Ignatius Critical Editions" and indeed upon the entire publishing house which seeks through this sales pitch to milk a home schooling or private schooling market of little literary sophistication and preparation. But why Lear for such an audience? Imagine subjecting students to the reading of the wrenching Lear! Do they follow the lesser Folio version? Do they supply the later, popular, dramatic "happy ending?" Or do they maintain the Quarto's inexorable tragic ending with the death of the innocent Cordelia, an ending as profound as anything among the Greeks, and difficult even for the elderly to bear? Having asked her button be loosened, Lear dies of joy to see her head move, even involuntarily, in the most painful scene in all English literature aside from the death of little Nell. Why subject your ideologically restrained home schooled to this? Because for all its nudity Lear holds little sex, and those who do like Edmund die? Does this fit their ideology?

Meanwhile please see at the least our finest, our greatest, our irreplaceable and eminently traditional American Shakespearean actor Mr. James Earle Jones in his prime, along with a remarkably thin and young and dashing Raul Julia in his prime (later of Romero fame) and Paul Sorvino and other excellent actors in the Joe Papp Shakespeare in the Park production King Lear / Jones, New York Shakespeare Festival (Broadway Theatre Archive), and put Ignatius most mercifully to rest. ... Read more

Product Description
A biography of Sir William Wallace, one of the greatest heroes in the story of Scotland's battle for freedom from England, and remembered today as the architect of Scottish independence. This book is also an attempt to offer an insight into the mind of a modern day freedom fighter. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

Poorly written, poorly researched.Don't waste your time or money.
This is almost certainly the worst-written history I have ever read, if it can even be called a history.D.J. Gray seems to have read a few well-regarded histories of Scotland and of Wallace, pared them down to 152 pages, and then paraphrased them.Poorly.It is rare that I come across at least one sentence per page that makes me cringe with its awkwardness, and it is rare that the thought persists so in my mind: I could write better than this guy.I know this may come across as hyperbole, but it is not.This book truly has the writing quality of a college essay.

Not only is the prose amateurish, but the flow of the story is atrocious.Frequently, the author inserts anecdotes with no context, failing to explain their relevance to the surrounding text.The author's analysis of the earliest historical sources on William Wallace is poorly explained, leaving the reader with little understanding of the contradictions that exist among those sources, or of the author's process of reconciling them.

Perhaps most glaringly, Gray fails to provide original insights or analysis of his own.Entire sections are merely paraphrased from other, more accomplished historians, as is immediately obvious from a glance at the "References" section.

As a work of prose, this book is appalling.As a work of history, it is a joke.Readers would be better served by purchasing one of the few books on which Gray relies almost exclusively for his knowledge, such as The Scottish War of Independence, by Evan Macleod Barron; William Wallace, Guardian of Scotland, by James Fergusson; or Sir William Wallace, by A.F. Murison.These are the giants on whose shoulders D.J. Gray stood to produce his book.

Well researched, but poorly written
This is in places an engaging read, as Gray's passion for his subject is evident everywhere.But what makes it engaging in some places makes it amateurish in others, because Gray's biases too often color his historical objectivity.He often openly ignores documented fact--or the lack thereof--in order to speculate on the emotions and thought processes not only of Wallace, but also of Robert the Bruce, Edward I, and many other figures key to the war for Scottish independence.He also relies heavily on folkloric sources like the Wallace-idolizing Harry the Blind, who Gray admits is biased but to whom Gray refers more than any other source.The book's organization leaves much to be desired, too; it reads more like a masters thesis than a carefully vetted work of professional scholarship.A good effort if Gray was indeed a grad student when he wrote this, but mostly, this book just makes me want to track down a more reliable source.Perhaps I made a mistake by reading this after Ronald McNair Scott's masterful treatment of Robert the Bruce.

An excellent work on William Wallace
Naturally with Braveheart ( and all its errors!! ) people with curiosity about one of Scotland's greatest Heroes have questions. This book goes a long way to presenting fact from fiction. Gray's work is easy to read, well balanced account of Scotland and Wallace.
Gray starts with the background and clime of Scotland before Wallace came into play. Gives you chapters on Edward Longshanks moving through Balliol being raised to King by Edward's Great Cause, and sets the stage for the rising of Wallace. He work is well thought out, just not another repeating of tales, balancing previous details put forward about Wallace with whether they were truth or not.

And excellent work for anyone wishing to learn more about Wallace.

Nicely told
a nicely written synopsis that can be read on vacation and enjoyed for hitting the high points and amusingly trailing off into interesting theories and ideas.

Brief in scope but informative enough to satisfy your curiosity about this fascinating subject.

A very nice read.

Wallace-an unbalanced view
An entertaining read but more opinion than fact based.Plenty of references but even more conjecture and supposition.Was Wallace so virtuous and Edward so evil? I don't think so.A book written to support the author's point of view with very little objectivity.The writing style is at times difficult to follow with events being related out of sequence or seemingly unrelated to the points being made...this is hardly a scholarly work.There must be betterbooks on this subject.... ... Read more

Product Description
2006 MASS MARKET PAPERBACK EDITION. SOME WEAR AND CREASES ON BOOK.SMALL CREASE AND SMALL FOLD ON A FEW PAGES. . OVER ALL A GOOD READING COPY. WE SHIP DAILY.... ... Read more

Product Description
This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishings Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the worlds literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Fantastic!
Eulogy on King Philip is great!I know Lincoln Dexter personally, and anything he writes is worth reading!This book is fantastic, and I think you should read it! ... Read more

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Mackenzie King (1874-1950) was Canada's tenth and longest serving prime minister and an important figure on the international scene, especially during the Second World War. This book provides a fascinating glimpse into the world of Mackenzie King.

Product Description
This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

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This is the first stage history of Shakespeare's King Henry V to cover the play's theatrical life since 1599. Staging this play is a political act, andthe substantial Introduction traces its theatrical interventions into conflicts from the Napoleonic Wars to Vietnam and the Falklands. The stage and film history raises interpretative questions--is Henry V an epic of English nationalism, a knowing and cynical piece of power politics, or an anti-war manifesto? The volume also includes the play text, illustrations and detailed footnotes about major performances. ... Read more

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The Historia Novella is the key source for the succession dispute between King Stephen and the Empress Matilda which brought England to civil war in the twelfth century. Edmund King has provided a major new edition, with revised translation, of the most important eyewitness account of the `anarchy' of King Stephen's reign. ... Read more

Product Description
This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process.We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

Product Description
This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Oh, damn it, I'll smuggle you out!!
This spectacular biography by famous royal biographer Philip Ziegler really refreshes the memory, both for English (and a smattering of American) history. Only beware, it is a superior, lightly rewritten version of Ziegler's original 1971 biography "King William IV".

(My review title comes from King William. When he suggested his guest retire for the night, the guest politely reminded him he could not leave before the king did. My review's title is King William's response to the tired man.)

In this the portrait of William Guelf the Duke of Clarence, son of King George III and soon-to-be King William IV, Ziegler gives the reader a well-defined, academically charged recount of world history as William lived it. From his birth to his days as midshipman, from his dukedom and fights with his three brothers to his final hours as king...Ziegler paints the portrait and paints it well.

As with all such biographies, the only issue I have with it is the excessive detail of nattering historical minutiae. A good biography only wants its setting and a little background, not a whole chapter of this-and-that with very little biography thrown into the mix, as this book often does.

For that, Mr. Ziegler, I have deducted one star!

Having seen and reviewed THE YOUNG VICTORIA, with Jim Broadbent making a cameo as King William IV, I loved reading the actual accounts of the events I'd only seen in the aforementioned film. Broadbent really breathed life into the figure, whose life is breathed into him here by Ziegler.

Otherwise get this excellent book (instead of the very first edition) and study it well. It tells the story of a good, mercurial, honest and rather plain king. It tells of his worries about his niece, the future Queen Victoria, and it treats with charitable decency those who may not deserve it. ... Read more

Product Description
Contains 36 pieces for actors taken from 24 Shakespeare plays. ... Read more

Product Description
This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more