书名：Tales From Shakespeare  莎士比亚故事集
难度：Lexile蓝思阅读指数960L
作者：Charles Lamb,‎ Mary Lamb 
出版社名称：Signet Classics
出版时间：2007
语种：英文
ISBN：9780451530646
商品尺寸：10.6 x2.3 x 17.3 cm
包装：简装
页数：352 （以实物为准）

很多人无数次翻开莎士比亚剧本，却始终只能记得几个人名。
而在十九世纪的英国，兰姆姐弟将莎剧改写成了故事，两百年来传为经典。

诞生自英国伊莉莎白时期的莎士比亚，是世界上非常会说故事的人。在短短52年的人生中，他留下了38部剧作，囊括喜剧、悲剧、历史剧、冒险剧、爱情故事与童话，并创作数百首诗歌。莎士比亚的戏剧故事往往展现真实的人生，他对人性的深刻洞察与刻画，跨越数百年时空，依旧震撼人们的心灵。今天我们所经历的一切，在莎士比亚的故事里早已发生。莎士比亚戏剧中所反映出的爱恨情仇、权力欲望、社会不公、腐败、嫉妒等，至今仍有现实意义。
但是，原著剧本的形式对于一般读者来说常常成为阅读上的门槛，从而无法领略莎剧之美，也错失了解经典文学的机会。19世纪，英国散文作家兰姆姐弟联手，将莎士比亚剧作改写成亲切上口、浅显易懂的故事，同时融入莎剧中的经典对白，保留原汁原味。Tales From Shakespeare《莎士比亚故事集》出版后大受欢迎，被翻译成多国语言。两百年来，这一改写版本也流传为家喻户晓的经典，是莎士比亚入门的zui佳启蒙读物。
本书为Signet Classics推出的英文原版修订版，由Susan J. Wolfson作序、Sylvan Barnet写后记。内容完整无删减，书本小巧便携。

THE SIGNET CLASSIC SHAKESPEARE SERIES
The Work of the World’s Greatest Dramatist
A great way to enjoy twenty of Shakespeare’s timeless plays, this volume is a retelling of the stories in prose by the famous nineteenth-century brother and sister Charles and Mary Lamb. Keeping Shakespeare’s own words whenever possible but making the plots and language easily accessible, this entertaining and readable collection has enthralled both children and adults ever since it first appeared in 1807. Here Shakespeare’s best-known tragedies and comedies come to life. Defined by moving drama, vivid action, great wit, or fantastic imagination, each play comes alive with charm and clarity for readers of any age—as a helpful preface to the original Elizabethan version or even as enriching, unforgettable stories in themselves.
With an Introduction by Susan J. Wolfson and an Afterword by Sylvan Barnet, general editor of the Signet Classic Shakespeare series. 

Tales From Shakespeare《莎士比亚故事集》共收录《暴风雨》《仲夏夜之梦》《冬天的故事》《无事生非》《皆大欢喜》《维洛那二绅士》《威尼斯商人》《辛白林》《李尔王》《麦克白》《终成眷属》《驯悍记》《错中错》《一报还一报》《第十二夜》《雅典的泰门》《罗密欧与朱丽叶》《哈姆雷特》《奥赛罗》《泰尔亲王佩里克利斯》共二十篇莎剧故事，涵盖了莎士比亚在各创作时期不同类型的代表作。
Includes: The Tempest - A Midsummer Night’s Dream - The Winter’s Tale - Much Ado About Nothing - As You Like It - Cymbeline - The Two Gentlemen of Verona - The Merchant of Venice - King Lear - Macbeth - All’s Well that Ends Well - The Taming of the Shrew - The Comedy of Errors - Measure for Measure - Twelfth Night - Timon of Athens - Romeo and Juliet - Hamlet - Othello - Pericles

威廉·莎士比亚（1564-1616）是英国文艺复兴时期伟大的戏剧家和诗人，也是欧洲文艺复兴时期人文主义文学的集大成者，近代欧洲文学的奠基人之一。他共写有37部戏剧，154首14行诗，两首长诗和其他诗歌。代表作有四大悲剧：《哈姆雷特》《奥赛罗》《李尔王》《麦克白》。四大喜剧：《第十二夜》《仲夏夜之梦》《威尼斯商人》《皆大欢喜》。历史剧：《亨利四世》《亨利六世》《理查二世》等。
他是“英国戏剧之父”，本·琼斯称他为“时代的灵魂”，被称为“人类文学奥林匹斯山上的宙斯”。

玛莉·兰姆（Mary Lamb，1764~1847） 与查尔斯·兰姆（Charles Lamb，1775~1834）是将莎士比亚的戏剧改写为叙事散文的名家。两人出生于19世纪的英国伦敦，家中共有七个兄弟姐妹，玛莉是老三，查尔斯是老幺，两人差了十一岁，但从小感情甚笃。
查尔斯小时候念寄宿学校时跟日后的知名诗人柯勒律治成为好友，1792年进入东印度公司工作，直到五十岁退休为止。他跟姐姐玛莉都曾受精神疾病所苦。两人互相依靠，终生并未嫁娶。弟弟查尔斯的写作领域相当广泛，他既写诗也创作剧本，不过仍以散文著作尤为成功，作品特色包括幽默、多变、含蓄、感伤等，以《伊利亚随笔》为代表作。工作之余仍致力创作，在姐姐玛莉病况好转之后，也介绍好友柯勒律治与华兹华斯给她认识。很快，姐姐跟两位诗人的妻子成为好友，并开始在文人圈中分享自己的作品。1806年，在友人戈德温（William Godwin）的邀请下，玛莉与查尔斯开始创作《莎士比亚故事集》，两人日后又合著了《给孩子的诗》。

William Shakespeare (1564-1616) was a poet, playwright, and actor who is widely regarded as one of the most influential writers in the history of the English language. Often referred to as the Bard of Avon, Shakespeare’s vast body of work includes comedic, tragic, and historical plays; poems; and 154 sonnets. His dramatic works have been translated into every major language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright. 

Charles and Mary Lamb were brother and sister, both gifted writers plagued with madness at certain times in their lives. Charles Lamb is best known for the brilliant personal essays he wrote under the name Elia, first published in London magazine from 1820 to 1823. He was highly acclaimed as a critic and was a close friend to some of the greatest authors of his time, particularly Samuel Taylor Coleridge, William Wordsworth, and Leigh Hunt. For a time in 1795–96, he suffered a nervous breakdown. Then, in 1796, Mary, in a fit of derangement, fatally stabbed their mother. Charles undertook the charge of his sister, who suffered periodic breakdowns, and she gratefully repaid him with deep affection and caring. Together they produced Tales from Shakespeare (1807) and Mrs. Leicester’s School (1809), a largely autobiographical collection of stories mostly written by Mary. In The Adventures of Ulysses (1808), Charles also adapted The Odyssey into a form more accessible to the layman. Charles died in 1834 and Mary in 1847.
                                                                                                                           
Susan J. Wolfson, Professor of English at Princeton University, is a widely recognized authority on British Romanticism, the era in which the Lambs’ Tales from Shakespeare was first published. She is the author of several books, including Formal Charges: The Shaping of Poetry in British Romanticism and Borderlines: The Shiftings of Gender in British Romanticism, as well as many articles on the writers, texts, and issues of literary study, particularly in the Romantic era. She is also on the board of the editors of the Longman Anthology of British Literature and General Editor of the Longman Cultural Editions.

Sylvan Barnet received a BA from New York University and an MA and a PhD from Harvard University. At Tufts University, where he served as chair of the Department of English, he taught courses ranging from Chaucer to twentieth-century literature, though he specialized in courses on Renaissance drama. He is the general editor of the Signet Classics Shakespeare series, the author of numerous essays on Shakespeare as well as of A Short Guide to Shakespeare, and the author and coauthor of several dramatic texts, including editions of selected plays by Oscar Wilde and George Bernard Shaw.