Shakespeare on Ink

Marketed especially for “Shakespeare-phobes,” Cliffnotes (yeah, you know who they are) is marketing Shakespeare manga editions of Hamlet, Macbeth, Julius Ceasar, and Romeo and Juliet. It describes itself as

Passion and poison. Deception and revenge. Betrayal and assassination. Ambition and murder. Politics and greed. Plots and counterplots. Supernatural visitations and evil manipulation. Packed with drama, excitement, and emotion, Shakespeare’s tragedies are a natural in the fast-paced manga format.

• A four-page introduction to each book sets the stage and gets you into the action.

• Text is greatly abridged, so reading these isn’t tedious torture.

• The original Shakespearean text is used so you’ll recognize famous passages.

• Each book was illustrated by a talented manga artist and abridged by Adam Sexton, a professor of literature and writing at NYU.

• Unlike traditional manga, these books read front to back and left to right, the way you’re used to reading.

• For authenticity, the books remain true to the setting and the time of Shakespeare’s original work.

Well, I hope, at least, there’s footnotes. It sounds crazy and even hokey but if it gets people to read and understand old William, I guess we have to roll with the times. Only, abridging it doesn’t seem like the best idea. We’re going to have to deal with manga, even though some of us (I include myself in that number) don’t want to.