Books by Sylvan Barnet

Presents Shakespeare's tale of a young and virtuous physician's daughter, Helena, who desperately loves Lord Bertram, who regards her as beneath his notice, in an authoritative version of the Elizabethan play, complete with an overview of the playwright's life and times, a special introduction to the play, critical reviews, a stage history, recommended readings, and notes. Reprint.

Brings together in one volume editions of all the plays, poems, and sonnets originally published as individual paperbacks in the New American Library's Signet Classic Shakespeare series. With a General Introduction by Professor Barnet, introductions to the individual plays by the contributing editors.

A reference work which provides definitions of world literary terms in common use.

Presents the classic drama of a magician's encounter with the demon Mephistopheles and the exchange of his soul for worldly gains, in a new edition of Marlowe's classic play, which also features a history of the play on stage, an updated bibliography, and authoritative commentaries and critical analyses. Reprint.

The greatest works of tragedy from the Bard, this book features "Hamlet, Othello, King Lear" and "Macbeth".

Newly revised, this edition of "Hamlet" features an extensive overview of Shakespeare's life and world; an editor's introduction; a note on the sources; dramatic criticism from the past and present; a comprehensive stage and screen history of notable actors, directors and productions; and more.

Three classic plays, including Wilde's most famous play which attacks Victorian manners and morals.

Literature for Composition offers the finest writing and argument coverage, helpful discussions of the literary elements, compelling case studies, and a diverse array of selections. The book includes complete coverage of the writing process, three chapters devoted to argument, complete chapters on interpretation and evaluation, coverage of the literary elements and the study of visual images, and case studies. The book opens with five chapters devoted to reading, writing, and argument. An entire chapter on critical thinking equips readers with a foundation upon which to study the chapters on the literary forms that follow. An anthology is organized around six engaging themes. Special chapters on visuals and film along with ten case studies offer additional resources. For those interested in the study and composition of literature.

Featuring the smallest trim size and page count of any comparable anthology, this appealing new three-genre collection encourages readers to experience the pleasures of literature. Concise, yet complete, editorial apparatus provides guidance on reading, writing, and, most particularly, developing arguments about literature. Readers who want a brief compilation of classic and contemporary selections.

The work of the world's greatest dramatist edited by outstanding scholars. This is the revised edition.

This newly revised Signet classic includes an extensive overview of Shakespeare's life, a unique introduction to the play, a comprehensive stage history of notable actors, and historical and contemporary dramatic criticism.

Critical and biographical essays accompany influential works by such authors as Tolstoy, Conrad, Faulkner, Kafka, and Solzhenitzyn.

New Features in the English Edition:

• An extensively revised Chapter 2, "Drafting and Revising," provides a series of drafts and revisions by the journalist and historian Frances FitzGerald
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• A new chapter, Chapter 7, "The Writer's Voice," not only offers advice on developing style but also discusses stylistic differences among the academic disciplines
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• A thoroughly revised and updated Chapter 16, "The Research Essay," offers up-to-date coverage of online research strategies, including guidance on evaluating Internet material; it also includes the latest MLA guidelines for documenting electronic sources
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• Chapter 17, "Writing About Literature," includes stories by Isabel Allende and Charlotte Perkins Gilman, a new series of drafts and revisions by a student writer, and a brief discussion of current critical approaches to literature
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• New essays on topics students are likely to encounter in other courses (the Internet, plagiarism, Vietnam), as well as new work by such writers as Steve Martin, Robert B. Reich, Debra Dickerson, and Patricia J. Williams
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• A list of Frequently Asked Questions, on the inside front cover, to help students and instructors quickly locate answers to their most important writing questions
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Other Important Features

• An opening chapter, "Discovering Ideas," that addresses students' anxiety about writing and shows them how to begin
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• An effective and often-imitated chapter on analysis, Chapter 8, "Analytic Thinking and Writing."
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• Three engaging (and thorough) chapters on sentence-level revision
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• Detailed practical advice on writing essay examinations, writing book reviews, and writing essays based on interviews
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• A concise, readable handbook
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• Visual material, including drawings, photographs, and cartoons
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James was writing as a late nineteenth-century novelist. Not so very many years before this, in the 1870s, another Victorian, Edward Dowden, was the first to designate Shakespeare's Last Plays as 'Romances'. By then the word had acquired a lot of semantically blurred luggage since the time it simply meant a tale in a vernacular Romantic language--'Isn't it romantic?' is not the sort of question worth going into here. The Elizabethans and Jacobeans used the word of stories but not of dramas. Shakespeare never used the word at all--not of plays, not of anything.

A discussion of Shakespeare's life, language, and literary style prefaces a study of the comedies, histories, tragedies, and nondramatic poems and the staging techniques, and cinematic portrayals of Shakespearean works.

The Signet Classic Shakespeare series contains the preeminent mass market books of the complete works of Shakespeare. This reissue features a new Overview by Sylvan Barnet, former chairman of the English Department at Tufts University, an updated Bibliography, suggested references, and stage and film history.

An essential volume for any library includes the bard's complete oeuvre of lyrical verse with an introduction by a noted Shakespearean scholar.

Newly revised, this edition of "The Tempest" features a new Overview by Sylvan Barnett, former chairman of the English Department of Tufts University, an updated bibliography, suggested references, and stage and film history.

Dramatizes the relationship between money and virtue, the rise of the new woman, and doctor's abuse of public and private trust.

Shakespeare's dark portrait of ambition begins when three prophesying witches conspire to meet with Macbeth. Obliging his fate, he indeed encounters these "Weird Sisters," who mysteriously refer to him by the title Thane of Cawdor, and moreover, as the future king. Macbeth's companion Banquo is told that his descendants will inherit the throne. Macbeth and Banquo are dumbstruck when two noblemen of Scotland arrive announcing Macbeth's new title; with confirmation of the prophesy, the seeds of ambition are planted. When Lady Macbeth learns about the prophesy of her husband's rule in a letter from him, she begins plotting the murder of Duncan, King of Scotland. The murder of the King sets in motion a series of dark deeds that torment Macbeth and Lady Macbeth with guilt, especially when the ghost of Banquo, who is among the couple's slain, appears at a banquet. The guilt manifests pointedly when Lady Macbeth, in a somnolent state, attempts to wash the blood from her hands, famously uttering "Out, damn'd spot! out I say!" MACBETH was Probably written between 1603 and 1606, the last of his major tragedies. A concise drama, MACBETH may be brief as the result of Shakespeare's having learned of King James's penchant for shorter works. The plot was inspired by the Chronicles of Holinshed's narrative of the reigns of Duncan and Macbeth. Richard Burbage, one of the most prominent actors of the Elizabethan stage, is said to have originated the title role. The earliest extant evidence of performance refers to a staging in 1611, but indirect evidence, such as the work's influence on other plays of the period, suggests an earlier debut.

Unique features include an extensive overview of Shakespeare's life, world, and theater by the general editor of Signet Classic Shakespeare series, plus a special introduction to the play by the editor Sylvan Barnet, Tufts University. This book contains information on the source from which Shakespeare derived "Othello"--selections from Giraldi Cinthio's "Hecatommithi". Special introduction by Alvin Kernan, Princeton University.

Featuring a new overview of Shakespeare's works by Sylvan Barnet, former Chairman of the English Department at Tufts University, this Signet classic also includes a comprehensive stage and screen history, dramatic criticism from the past and present, and sources from which Shakespeare derived this great work.

New American Library adds another volume of Shakespeare dramas to its Signet Classic line. Includes a new, comprehensive stage history of notable actors, directors and productions of these two plays and a general discussion of Shakespeare's life, world and theater.

This newly revised Signet classic includes an extensive overview of Shakespeare's life, a unique introduction to the play, a comprehensive stage history of notable actors, and historical and contemporary dramatic criticism.

Follows the adventures of close friends Valentine and Proteus and the series of intrigues that ensue when Proteus, betrothed to another, falls in love with Valentine's beloved. Reissue.

Types of Drama, 8/e offers a full range of plays from ancient Greece to the present. Like the earlier editions, this collection gives strong representation of such familiar authors as the Greek dramatists, Shakespeare, Ibsen, and O'Neill as well as to contemporary classic authors such as Miller, Williams and Churchill. New to the eighth edition are twenty-eight works including a commedia dell'arte scenario, a Noh play, an opera by Gertrude Stein, a farce by Dario Fo, Elizabeth Robins's neglected Votes for Women , and Suzan-Lori-Parks's newest play, In the Blood . For individuals interested in expanding their knowledge and critical understanding of dramatic performances, their histories and the important role of reviewers.

Briefly traces the history of Zen Buddhism in China and Japan, describes the characteristics of Zen painting, and offers criticism on specific works.