"Timon of Athens" (Arden Shakespeare) - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0416278604 ISBN 13: 9780416278606

Synopsis

Timon of Athens is a tragic play that was written by William Shakespeare. The action centers around the title character, a beloved and perhaps overly generous citizen. The play is likely influenced by the famous Greek philosopher Timon. William Shakespeare, the Bard of Avon, is known for his many sonnets and plays that have stood the test of time. Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon. He married at a young age and had three children. At age 21, Shakespeare began to have success in his business venture, an acting company known as the King’s Men. He also began writing at this time and would ultimately complete many of the most famous works in all of literature. Shakespeare's plays were well-loved from the beginning and even today his popularity remains unparalleled. The cause of Shakespeare's death is unknown, but he is honored today in Westminster Abbey in the Poet’s Corner.

About this title

Review

A messy, uneven and disillusioned play, Timon of Athens is rarely studied or performed because of scepticism regarding both its authorship and completion. Like Pericles there seems little doubt that Shakespeare wrote the majority, but quite what he was trying to do is another matter.

Timon of Athens is rich and generous, happy to provide his friends, servants and acquaintances with money whenever they require it. Only the cynical Apemantus questions the soundness of Timon's actions, and the motives of his supposed friends, wondering at "what a number of men eats Timon, and he sees 'em not. It grieves me to see so many dip their meat in one man's blood." When Timon's creditors ask for payment of their loans, Timon goes to his friends, but they all refuse to help him. Even worse, Timon's one loyal friend Alcibiades is exiled from Athens. After renouncing all his friends at one last banquet, Timon retires to a misanthropic life as a hermit in a cave. As he rails against "yellow, glittering precious gold", he completely renounces mankind, to die alone in his cave, his epitaph claiming that "Here lie I, Timon, who alive / All living men did hate". One of Shakespeare's more puzzling plays, Timon of Athens is unusually bleak and unforgiving, with Timon behaving like an unsympathetic version of Lear (they were both written within a couple of years of each other). --Jerry Brotton

Review

"Working with Omar Pound, an expert on Lewis and controller of rights to his estate, and using my own understanding of Lewis' work, I have attempted to create the work that he would have done. It is bound on boards with a clamshell box covered with Italian Linen book cloth."--Charles D. Jones

Edition details

• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0416278604
• ISBN 13: 9780416278606
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 155