A British publisher, Self Made Hero, has brought out a series of Shakespeare’s plays as manga comics with abridged texts in the original Shakesperian English. A second publisher, Classic Comics, has gone a step further, producing full colour comics in different versions. You can get them as abridged versions which use the original text, in modern English or in modern English for slow readers (i.e. with much less text).
I have seen several of Shakespeare’s plays in both English and German, and was suprised to discover that I much prefer to see them in German. Why? Because here when the plays are performed, the language is usually modern German. I understand that much, much better than Shakespearian English. So I wouldn’t be surprised if the comics are a big hit, especially with anyone having to study the plays as part of an English course.
that’s a very interesting point, john – shakespeare in modern german (whatever that is?) or shakespearian english! i guess i’d choose the german version too. and don’t forget verdi’s operas ‘otello’ and ‘falstaff’ – in italian!
Well, for me, “modern” German is not Goethe for example
did you ever read heinrich heine’s “harzreise”? german language reached its peak in that book – IMHO.
worth a try.
Hi k.d. – no not yet, but I’ll try to get hold of it and give it a try! Thanks for the tip…