How Not to Introduce a Non-introductory Topic to the Uninitiated (what a mouthful...): "Shakespeare - A Very Short Introduction" by Germaine Greer Published 2002.
 
“An essential aspect of the mind and art of Shakespeare, then, is his lack of self-consciousness. Nothing but a complete lack of interest in self-promotion, from which the careful publication of Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece are the only aberration, can explain Shakespeare’s invisibility. The lives of lesser men and women, insignificant members of his own family, the actors he worked with, the politicians and courtiers he knew or might have known, have all been scrutinized minutely, their every action tracked to the find the spoor of the bard, but they have yielded all but that.”
 
Why did the editors of the VSI series wanted to replace this little gem of a book with the one, by the exact same title, by Stanley Wells? I’ve always wondered. I can’t even find Greer’s book in the homepage of the VSI Series!
 
Maybe because in Greer’s book you also won’t find an attempt at finding the whereabouts of Shakespeare. Greer only wants to commit to a description of Shakespeare’s thought, i.e, only what we can read in his works.
 
If you're into Shakespeare, read on. ( )

Essential for both for those who are new and those who know.

Ms Greer manages, in a very short space, to lay out the foundations and major structural lines of modern Shakespeare Studies.
What she gives is the clearest possible statement of some quite complex ideas which will require those new to seriously studying Shakespeare (eg, older Secondary School students) to take time to pause and absorb what is being said.

Having said that, I think this should be required reading for anyone studying Shakespeare for A/AS/IB level or at undergraduate level. You will give yourself the best possible start to your voyage of descovery and be able to put in context an awful lot of more difficult material.

The first chapter is the best antidote I have seen to the loony Shakespeare didn't write it brigade. The second uses the Tempest to explore Shakespeare's Poetics. And she continues using individual texts and quotes to explore his ethics, and other aspects of his world.

As someone who has taught Shakespeare for years, I have never come across such a transparent and stimulating text. ( )