Shakespeare : The Later Comedies

In this 1962 study, G. K. Hunter seeks to define'the particular kind of excellence [...] in Much Ado, As You Like It, and Twelfth Night.'He finds that the'common element in the different achievements is the power to realize love as a force making for proper happiness and reconciliation over a wide area of human experience, and as a spectrum which shows sanity and eccentricity in their social setting'. A Midsummer-Night's Dream is grouped with them as a play about love, though it'is constructed by contrast rather than interaction'. As is the case with the companion essays in the Writers and Their Work Shakespeare series, the bibliographies follow a uniform plan. They assume that Professor J. R. Brown's bibliography in Shakespeare (No. 58) is available to the reader, and in the main they confine themselves to the plays under immediate consideration. Essays and papers are not ordinarily included in the bibliographies of the Series but, as it is not possible to keep up with Shakespeare studies unless they are added, they are a feature of these Shakespeare essays. The Chronicles: Clifford Leech The Early Comedies: Derek Traversi The Later Comedies: G. K. Hunter The Final Plays: Frank Kermode The Histories: L. C. Knights The Poems: F. T. Prince The Problem Plays: Peter Ure The Roman Plays: T. J. B. Spencer The Great Tragedies: Kenneth Muir A volume in the Writers and Their Work series, which draws upon recent thinking in English studies to introduce writers and their contexts. Each volume includes biographical material, an examination of recent criticism, a bibliography and a reappraisal of a major work by the writer.