The Complete Works of William Shakespeare

Recommended by Marjorie Garber, William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of English and of Visual and Environmental Studies

For many years I taught a two-semester lecture course on Shakespeare as part of both the English Department curriculum and the Core program. The course met in Sanders Theatre, and, as is often the case with such large courses, I did not get to meet every student individually, although I attended discussion sections, joined students for dinner in the Houses, and on one memorable occasion waltzed onstage with an inspired undergraduate to the strains of “Brush Up Your Shakespeare.” (That brave sophomore from long ago is now a college professor.) At the end of the course, though, there were always a few students who lingered in the lecture hall, or came to my office hours, to tell me that they were planning to take their copy of the “Complete Works of William Shakespeare” with them on their summer travels, whether backpacking across Europe, hiking in the American West, or on another, equally adventurous journey. I marveled then, as I do still, at the power of Shakespeare to enchant and engage, even to the point that a heavy, bulky book of his plays — not just a couple of convenient, packable paperbacks — was regarded as an essential travel companion. I hoped, and still hope, that voyaging in the company of Shakespeare, and encountering the pleasures of some of his least known — as well as his most-celebrated — works gave these students the exhilaration it has always given me. I’d love to know what they read on their travels, and what they discovered.