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SHAKESPEARE A TO Z
The Essential Reference to His Plays,
     His Poems, His Life and Times,
     and More

by Charles Boyce

Facts on File, $45.00, 742 pages
To be published December 11, 1990
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Reviewed by Tony L. Hill
     

     Enough  has been written about William Shakespeare  and  his 

works  to  fill  a library.  The Folger  Shakespeare  Library  in 

Washington,  to name just one.  Charles Boyce's  superlative  new 

volume fills a niche for every Shakespeare reader from the casual 

to  the  scholarly.   The  volume  seems  to  have  a  number  of 

advantages  over Oscar Campbell's "The Reader's  Encyclopedia  of 

Shakespeare"  (Crowell, 1966).  Boyce has delivered  a  masterful 

and brilliant cornucopia covering nearly every aspect of the Bard 

of Avon's works, life, and words.   

     The book's nearly 3,000 entries (the publisher claims  this, 

I didn't count them) detail more facts than anyone could possibly 

need  to know.  Virtually every particular that had relevance  in 

Shakespeare's  time is included, as well as a good  many  entries 

related to the performance of his works since then, such as  many 

prominent actors.  Biographical sketches are provided for all  of 

the   Bard's  known  relatives,  not  to  mention  his   friends, 

associates,  and  sycophants.   A host of  theatrical  terms  are 

included for the convenience of the reader.  

     The only thing this book has more of than breadth is  depth.  

Every quotation is followed by a citation giving the exact  line.  

Even the briefest entries are cross-referenced to something else.  

It  is this feature that makes the book so addicting.   The  only 

item  that seems to be missing is an MMPI profile of each of  the 

characters. 

     The  synopses of the plays are well done.  Too many sets  on 

the  market  are either too sketchy (written for  lazy  students, 

perhaps) or assume the reader is already familiar with the  play.  

Boyce's are exactly on point, assuming the reader knows  nothing, 

and following with a massive amount of information. 

     The  book  has a scholarly feel to it, and  is  perhaps  not 

suited for one who isn't a true blue fan.  For example, many more 

popular  topics  are  omitted, such  as  descriptions  of  famous 

adaptations such as "Kiss Me Kate."  There is no entry related to 

such curiosities as the Baconian authorship theory (trivia  buffs 

will  recall that the person most associated with this  disproved 

hypothesis was Minnesota's own Ignatius Donnelly).  On the  other 

hand, more than three hundred entries are provided of  "scholars, 

authors,  translators, artists, printers, and publishers."    But 

it  is indeed difficult to find fault with a book  that  contains 

separate  entries for 32 different messengers,  thirty  servants, 

and thirteen soldiers.  One is tempted to infer that Boyce  spent 

more time describing Shakespeare's minor characters than the Bard 

spent  in  creating  them.     

     The  oddest thing about the book is its author.   One  would 

expect  that  someone  who could compile this magnum  opus  is  a 

scholar  with a long bibliography on Shakespeare.  But  Boyce  is 

apparently a free-lance writer with a bachelor's degree and  this 

is  his  first book.  In the preface, he says the  book  is  "not 

meant   as  scholarship;  my  intention  has  been  to   assemble 

conveniently a body of lore for the information and entertainment 

of  the  general  reader."  The  book  surely  satisfies  Boyce's 

intentions.  But there's no question that the book is a scholarly 

contribution. "Shakespeare A to Z" is sure to become the standard 

reference  work on the subject before long, and in  the  meantime 

would be a splendid gift for your favorite Shakespeare reader. 

                               ***

Tony  Hill,  a writer and critic in Minneapolis, can  recite  the 

names of Shakespeare's plays from memory.  (It's a start.)