Mark Twain

School Library Journal

Gr 8 UpTwo titles that promise to make literary criticism more accessible to high school students. Beginning with a biography of the author, each volume then follows with critical analyses that also place the literature within its historical and cultural context. Some essays trace a common element through several of the author's works, while others focus on one or more elements within a single title. A summary precedes each essay, which then includes subheadings to further underscore the main ideas. The essays, which date from the 19th century to 1995, consist mainly of excerpts, some of which are entire chapters, others of which are almost imperceptibly patched pieces with numerous omissions. For example, an essay on women in Shakespeare's tragedies omits large portions of the original text devoted to plays not included in this collection, but without compromising or muddling the remaining text. Very few of the selections are duplicated in similar series. Supplemental inserts provide further insights into the author and his work. In the Twain collection, several selections are devoted each to Huckleberry Finn and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. The Shakespeare volume concentrates on those tragedies most often taught in high school: Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar, Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth, and King Lear. While these titles' extra features make them more accessible to a pre-college audience than Prentice Hall's Twentieth Century Interpretations (also abridged) or the Twayne volumes, for advanced literature students they may serve better as supplements to unabridged critical texts.Kelly Diller, Humboldt High School, IA