Shakespeare's Common Language

Reviews / Votes

Written in clear and accessible prose, Kolentsis's book on the linguistic aspects of Shakespeare's dialogues evolved from her dissertation research. In close readings of quotidian and easily overlooked words within dramatic dialogue (e.g., will/shall, if, here/this), Kolentsis (Univ. of Waterloo, Canada) reveals her profound knowledge of the Shakespearean corpus and linguistic methods. The core of the book is four self-contained chapters, each devoted to one play and each applying a linguistic approach (such as discourse analysis or historical sociolinguistics) to a small set of words in that play's dialogues. The structure of the chapters is well defined: each introduces the chapter's purpose, describes the theoretical or methodological basis of the linguistic approach being applied, and then delves into a close reading of a play. The consistency of the format allows readers or instructors to easily extract the portions that are most relevant to their research or teaching needs. Kolentsis's writing style, concise summaries of linguistic approaches, and thoughtful analyses of dialogue make this book appropriate for nonspecialists and specialists alike. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty. * CHOICE * This book brings Shakespeare's verbal experimentation with some of the most frequently used "small" words of the English language (shall, will, this, and if) vividly to life. Writing in a highly accessible style, Kolentsis equips students with innovative approaches to close reading that fruitfully combine literary and linguistic analysis to illuminate key dynamics of the drama -- Lynne Magnusson, Professor of English, University of Toronto, Canada