Cedric Watts Ordre des livres (chronologique)

Loose ends and red herrings are the stuff of detective fiction, and under the scrutiny of master sleuths John Sutherland and Cedric Watts Shakespeare's plays reveal themselves to be as full of mysteries as any Agatha Christie novel. Is it summer or winter in Elsinore? Do Bottom and Titania make love? Does Lady Macbeth faint, or is she just pretending? How does a man putrefy within minutes of his death? Is Cleopatra a deadbeat Mum? And why doesn't Juliet ask 'O Romeo Montague, wherefore art thou Montague?' As Watts and Sutherland explore these and other puzzles Shakespeare's genuius becomes ever more apparent. Speculative, critical, good-humoured and provocative, their discussions shed light on apparent anachronisms, performance and stagecraft, linguistics, Star Trek and much else. Shrewd and entertaining, these essays add a new dimension to the pleasure of reading or watching Shakespeare.

Two Households, both alike in dignity, In fair Verona , where we lay our scene, From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean. From forth the fatal loins of these two foes A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life ; Whose misadventured piteous overthrows Doth with their death bury their parents'strife. [...] Deux anciennes Maisons d'égale dignité Dans la belle Vérone où se tient notre scène Font un nouvel éclat de leur antique hargne, Le sang civil salit les mains des citoyens. Or dans le sein fatal de ces deux ennemis Deux amants prennent vie sous la mauvaise étoile ; Leur malheureux écroulement très pitoyable Enterre en leur tombeau la haine des parents. Les terribles moments de leur amour mortel Et l'obstination des rages familiales Que rien sinon la mort des deux enfants n'apaisera, Pendant deux heures nous le jouerons sur ce théâtre ; Et si vous nous prêtez une patiente oreille, Tout défaut, notre zèle le rachètera.

Joseph Conrad’s long experience as a working seaman enriched and deepened his literary gifts, making him the most brilliant and convincing writer of seafaring’s greatest age. In the three sea stories collected here, he makes deft use of the maritime setting to enact moral dramas of men tested by the elements and by one another. “The Nigger of the ‘Narcissus’” has been hailed as Conrad’s earliest masterpiece. When a West Indian sailor on board the merchant ship Narcissus falls ill his condition sparks conflict among the crew, which threatens to erupt in mutiny under the pressure of a terrifying gale. “Typhoon,” the gripping story of a steamship captain who stubbornly steers into a major tempest and the crew’s ensuing struggle to survive the raging waters, is distinguished by one of the most thrillingly evoked storms in all of literature. “The Shadow-Line” is a dramatically fictionalized account of Conrad’s first command as a young sea captain trapped aboard a becalmed, fever-wracked, and seemingly haunted ship—an ordeal that marks for him the “shadow-line” between youth and maturity. Suspenseful, atmospheric, and deceptively simple, this intense story reflects the complex themes of Conrad’s most famous novels, Lord Jim and Heart of Darkness . With an introduction by Martin Seymour-Smith