Shakespeare's style /

Referring to each of Shakespeare's plays in at least one chapter, this volume comprises 34 brief but thoughtful essays. Charney (Rutgers, now retired) conceives of "style" broadly as he discusses more than the formal aspects of Shakespeare's work. The topics range from the lack of figurative language in Julius Caesar and Iago's "Ha!" (which Othello picks up as he accepts Iago's accusations of Desdemona) to the insomnia of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth and the "harsh cruelty" of Falstaff's banishment in 2 Henry IV. The author even includes an appreciative chapter on the jailer's daughter in The Two Noble Kinsmen. An accomplished scholar conversant with the literature, Charney provides close readings that pick up characteristics of individual plays that readers might miss: for example, he notes that the speech rhythms of The Winter's Tale are quite irregular, the lines often deviating from the conventional blank verse. Though it lacks notes or bibliography, this book will interest scholars as well as a general audience. It will remind readers that Charney's excellent How to Read Shakespeare (CH, Sep'72) is still the best book to introduce students to Shakespeare. Summing Up: Recommended. All readers. --Mimosa Summers Stephenson, University of Texas at Brownsville