William Shakespeare

This is one of Shakespeare’s darkest comedies, for the romantic story of a young man, Bassanio, who has squandered his fortune and must borrow money to woo the wealthy lady he loves is set against the more disturbing story of the Jewish moneylender Shylock and his demand for the “pound of flesh” owed him by the Venetian merchant, Antonio. Here pathos and farce combine with moral complexity and romantic entanglement to display the...

"Set adrift by his pirate crew, Pocket of Dog Snogging--last seen in The Serpent of Venice--washes up on the sun-bleached shores of Greece, where he hopes to dazzle the Duke with his comedic brilliance and become his trusted fool. But the island is in turmoil. Egeus, the Duke's minister, is furious that his daughter Hermia is determined to marry Demetrius, instead of Lysander, the man he has chosen for her. The Duke decrees that if, by the time of...

Mark Haddon's breathtaking novel begins with a harrowing plane crash: Maja, the pregnant wife of the unimaginably wealthy Philippe, is killed, but their daughter Angelica survives. Philippe's obsession with the girl's safety morphs into something sinister and grotesque as she grows into a beautiful teen. A young man named Darius, visiting Philippe with a business proposition, encounters Angelica and intuits their secret -- he decides to rescue her,...

STRIKE FAST, LOVE HARD, LIVE FOREVER This is the motto of the Lady Knights-sworn to fealty under a struggling kingdom, promised to defend the prospective heir, Banna Mora. But when a fearsome rebellion overthrows the throne, Mora is faced with an agonizing choice: give up everything she's been raised to love, and allow a king-killer to be rewarded-or retake the throne, and take up arms against the newest heir, Hal Bolingbrooke, Mora's own childhood...

Set in the 1970s in a run-down, industrial town, a police force struggles to shed an incessant drug problem. Duncan, the chief of police, is idealistic and visionary, a dream to the townspeople, but a nightmare for criminals. The drug trade is ruled by two drug lords, one of whom, a master of manipulation named Hecate, has connections with the highest in power, and plans to use them to get his way.

There's trouble in the Fairy Kingdom. King Oberon wants to teach Titania, his proud wife, a lesson. Things heat up when four young nobles arrive in the enchanted forest from Athens. They're all in love-but with the wrong person. It's up to Puck, a playful sprite who isn't above a bit of mischief after dark, to do his master's bidding, trick Queen Titania, and dial down the drama among foolish lovers. With a certain potion at his disposal, what could...

With his wedding a week away, Claudio can't wait to marry the beautiful young Hero. To distract him, his best friend Don Pedro devises mischief: a romantic trap for the sharp-tongued Beatrice and the man she loves to hate, Benedick. Their amusement is almost spoiled by the jealous scheming of Don John, but love and laughter prevail when the local constable unwittingly exposes the plot--and all the trouble proves to be much ado about nothing (111 min.)....

The general editors of the new series of forty volumes- the reowned Shakespeareans Stephen Orgel of Stanford University and A.R. Braunmuller of UCLA-have assembled a team of eminent scholars who have, along with the general editors themselves, prepared new introductions and notes to all of Shakespeare's plays and poems.