Friday, November 14, 2014

The Girlhood of Shakespeare's Heroines

Mary Cowden Clarke - The Girlhood of Shakespeare's Heroines (1850)

Open Library direct link
Open Library main page

Clarke compiled one of the first concordances to Shakespeare and along the way clearly decided we didn't know enough about the past of a few characters.  So she wrote fifteen short prequels about, well, the girlhood of Shakespeare's heroines.  Ophelia, Dedemona, Rosalind, Juliet are here though apparently no Lady Macbeth or Cressida (unless they're under other names - I haven't yet read but a bit of this book).  I fervently hope for a future manga adaptation.

Note that the link is to a condensed 1897 edition by the author's sister.  The originals were issued in three volumes and I not only didn't feel like tracking down appropriate links but the available copies were somewhat hard to read.  Besides, I suspect this may benefit from being condensed.