Customer Reviews (1)

THE ONLY VERSION OF "THE WASTE LAND"
I was happy and surprised to find these 2 ex-library tapes had been hardly used.As they were only briefy available in England and the USA and never seem to have been reissued in either country they are both rare and for the huge army of Eliot enthusiasts virtually unknown. But ever since hearing a snippet I've been browsing Amazon in the UK and USA for several years to find them (at a reasonable price). It was well worth the long wait.

Because "The Waste Land" (1922) is undoubtably the greatest poem (written in English) during the last century. Unfortunately T S Eliot's own recording is dreadfully dull.With no ability to act-out many sections which are spoken by his various characters.Such as the cockneys in the pub.Or women in several different languages.Nor can he increase his pace for the many dramatic passages. "Unreal City ... etc".Although Eliot claimed he wrote it as a "personal and wholly insignificant grouse against life - a piece of rhythmical grumbling" this poem is in fact great fun.And it requires a great English actor with a sense of humour to bring it to life.

Namely Alec Guinness.As George Lucas recognised no other British thesbian has a voice which conveys so much wisdom and authority.And as all Ealing comedy movie fans know no other famous Shakespearian actor had his other ability - to inhabit broad comic characters. So he had all the atributes required. Once heard it's impossible to imagine any other version of "The Waste Land" better than his.And the winner is the listener - and T S Eliot.

As all Eliot cognoscenti know "The Four Quartets" are the musings of a much older more depressed poet.In many sections questioning the value of his writing poetry.Also constantly comparing the value of "time present and time past" as they will appear in "time future". I.e. is life only an abstraction?Once again if anyone can make these long gloomy ruminations absorbing and entertaining Alec Guinness can and does.Using a more subtle vocal approach to reflect the lonely soul of the T S Eliot of 1935-42.

Lastly one has eight shorter poems including his first big success "The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock".This is one poem where only Guiness could pull-off the originality Eliot came up with to make poetry more than a bunch of rhyming couplets. Such as "If one, settling a pillow by her head, should say 'That is not what I meant at all, That is not it, at all'".In an instant one fully believes one is hearing a posh woman complaining.

The copyright of these recordings appear to belong to both the BBC and Decca.It really is their public duty to make them available again. Only then will everyone fully understand why "The Waste Land" is a landmark in the history of literature.Influencing all his contemporaries. One of whom honored Eliot by giving his most morbid novel the title - "A Handfull of Dust".

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Product Description
In this memoir, Tenniel Evans tells of a childhood set in two very different worlds. In 1936, at the age of ten, he arrived in England, destined for middle-class life in a Midlands rectory. Behind him lay an unconventional childhood of running barefoot in Kenya with his African friends. ... Read more

Product Description
Hardcover with dustjacket, 72 black and white plates, frontispiece with Alec Guinness close-up photo in Hamlet, 1951 ... Read more

Product Description
Hardcover, Theatre World Monograph No. 1, Macmillan Company, 1961 ... Read more

Product Description
Read along with this full-cast BBC radio production in the Modern Library edition of The Tragedies of William Shakespeare, which contains the complete text of King Lear. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (59)

King Lear Easy Version
This is a good book if you need to have a quick review and understanding of King Lear.If you are hard up of time (exams due soon or deadline for assignment..) and you haven't even got to reading the actual shakespearean verson, then I suggest you read the Easy version for a quick understanding of the play and it might just help you to get through the assignment or the exams.For real desperate students, this is a great help. But if you can, don't just read the easy version as you will miss out the beauty of Shakespeare use of language.....

King Lear
The book I ordered was for a World Lit class. I was afraid it wouldn't make it to me in time, but I received it a considerable amount of time before it was due. The condition of it was better than expected and it was a good read.

One of the Finest Plays Ever Written
I read King Lear after a long gap since my last reading of Shakespeare--in college.It was recommended by a former professor, David Allen White, as his favorite of Shakespeare's plays.I was not disappointed and found the play to be very compelling.For a novice, the play was a quick read, probably because the action and the characters were so interesting.This is one I'll probably have to read again in order to truly grasp its meaning and beauty.Since most high school and college students don't go beyond Macbeth, Hamlet, or Romeo and Juliet, I would highly recommend King Lear as a continuation of that introduction to Shakespeare.

His greatest triumph!
King Lear is the most devastating, and most powerful, piece in the cannon of Shakespeare. The characters in this play span the spectrum of human behavior and yet Shakespeare creates in each of them a reality that is hard to reject, even when their actions are most disturbing.
Despite the nihilism of the piece I never feel that Shakespeare is negating human existence, but rather, encouraging his audience to embrace the human experience in all its splendor and squalor. He has the blinded (and formerly suicidal) Gloucester say "You ever-gentle gods, take my breath from me; let not my worser spirit tempt me again to die before you please." Gloucester has realized there are forces larger then us that "shape our ends" and that being fully human means to absorb the good and the bad.
In the characters of Edgar and Cordelia Shakespeare creates the stereotypical "good child." However, he also endows both creations with an otherworldly kindness towards their fathers that speaks to our better natures. The way that both children nurse their disturbed fathers back to health is a lesson in humility and forgiveness.
The villains in this text are the classical villains, from which all other villains flow, and the many subplots combine in a delicious web of deceit and destruction that ensnares in its web the very spiders that spun it.
However, the ultimate beauty in King Lear is in the power of redemption. When Lear begs the forgiveness of the daughter he has truly wronged, she responds with "No cause." We have all hurt someone we love, and who among us would not like to be absolved by those powerful words, "No cause"?
Lear's redemption and forgiveness is our own.

A Classroom Success Story
The Cambridge School Shakespeare series offers great classroom activities for teachers.They are useful to both theatre and English classes, as they really help students to understand and enjoy the material.King Lear is always my favorite, but the entire series is equally useful. ... Read more