William Shakespeare's "Troilus and Cressida": A Retelling in Prose

William Shakespeare's "Troilus and Cressida": A Retelling in Prose | David Bruce

so-so

I‘m so sorry Bruce. I love your work. Even with this play in prose it‘s hard to finish. This is clearly not Bruce‘s fault. I still appreciated his attempt to make this barely intelligible play into something understandable and coherent. I still think Shakespeare either called this one in or discovered whisky during the writing of this play. Bruce did a commendable job with what he had to work with. 👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻

GingerAntics 5 stars for David Bruce. 1 star for Shakespeare‘s source material. Comes out to 2.5 stars (the loss of stars were in no way Bruce‘s fault). #DavidBruce #shakespeareinprose #verse #prose #shakespearereadalong #Shakespeare #TroilusandCressida 5y

18 likes1 comment

GingerAntics

William Shakespeare's "Troilus and Cressida": A Retelling in Prose | David Bruce

Here‘s hoping Ajax dies in the next act.
#DavidBruce #shakespeareinprose #verse #prose #shakespearereadalong #Shakespeare #TroilusandCressida

merelybookish

GingerAntics @merelybookish finally read an act of this play BEFORE the discussion started!!! 5y

batsy 🤣 5y

15 likes2 comments

GingerAntics

William Shakespeare's "Troilus and Cressida": A Retelling in Prose | David Bruce

Really, because I didn‘t know that. Last I heard, he was acting like a love sick teenager and she was ignoring him. Did I miss something?
#DavidBruce #shakespeareinprose #verse #prose #shakespearereadalong #Shakespeare #TroilusandCressida

merelybookish

11 likes

GingerAntics

William Shakespeare's "Troilus and Cressida": A Retelling in Prose | David Bruce

Don‘t know why, but I find this idea of medicine amusing. It comes into play in so much of our modern language about health and mental health, though.
#DavidBruce #shakespeareinprose #verse #prose #shakespearereadalong #Shakespeare #TroilusandCressida

12 likes

GingerAntics

William Shakespeare's "Troilus and Cressida": A Retelling in Prose | David Bruce

I don‘t know why this jumped out at me, but it did. Now that I actually know what happened in the first act, on to Act II!!!
#DavidBruce #shakespeareinprose #verse #prose #shakespearereadalong #Shakespeare #TroilusandCressida

18 likes

GingerAntics

William Shakespeare's "Troilus and Cressida": A Retelling in Prose | David Bruce

I kind of like that Shakespeare even noticed that these social conventions are absolute BS.
#DavidBruce #shakespeareinprose #verse #prose #shakespearereadalong #Shakespeare #TroilusandCressida

15 likes

GingerAntics

William Shakespeare's "Troilus and Cressida": A Retelling in Prose | David Bruce

So much wooing in one sentence.
#DavidBruce #shakespeareinprose #verse #prose #shakespearereadalong #Shakespeare #TroilusandCressida

readordierachel Lol! 5y

16 likes1 comment

GingerAntics

William Shakespeare's "Troilus and Cressida": A Retelling in Prose | David Bruce

This one doesn‘t seem much clearer than the Shakes, but that could be the Benadryl currently in my system.
#DavidBruce #shakespeareinprose #verse #prose #shakespearereadalong #Shakespeare #TroilusandCressida

19 likes

GingerAntics

William Shakespeare's "Troilus and Cressida": A Retelling in Prose | David Bruce

It‘s definitely going to take both of these. I‘ve read the first act of the play, but I‘m not entirely sure what happened, so I‘m going to read the first act in the tagged book to get a better handle on it. I think my future game plan is going to be to read the Bruce and then read the Shakespeare.
#DavidBruce #shakespeareinprose #verse #prose #shakespearereadalong #Shakespeare #TroilusandCressida

wanderinglynn I think it‘s confusing because it‘s following 2 plot lines: one where Troilus woos Cressida and one (the majority) revolves around the leaders of the Greek and Trojan forces, Agamemnon and Priam. So to me, that made Act I feel disjointed, as if I was watching parts of two different plays. 5y

GingerAntics @wanderinglynn oh my god I thought that was just me!!! That was definitely a problem I was having. I think the other problem I‘m experiencing with this one is that I‘ve gotten so used to listening to an audio version and following along, that not having an audio version for this play has thrown me off a bit. I‘m hoping having the verse and the prose together will help. 5y

wanderinglynn Nope, not just you. It‘s one of the major criticisms of the play & why it‘s often referred to as one of his “problem plays.” 5y

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GingerAntics @wanderinglynn my copy said it‘s referred to as a problem play because it‘s not really a comedy or a tragedy...and the term mostly comes from the Victorian era when they couldn‘t bring themselves to talk about the sexual themes of the play. 5y

wanderinglynn Yes, it changes between comedy and tragedy because of the two plots. Act I scene I feels like it‘s going to be like Much Ado, Twelfth Night, or one of the other romantic comedies. But then it drastically switches to this serious war and battle-prep in scene ii. So disjointed! 5y

Rachbb3 All those long speeches. 😣 I had to go over a couple of times. 5y

GingerAntics @Rachbb3 it was hard to tell where one person stopped talking and another began for me. That‘s definitely being used to the audio plays. I‘m used to hearing a new voice and that wasn‘t happening this time. I‘m really hoping David Bruce will help clear that up until I get used to not having the audio play for this one. Seems like a complex play thus far, which makes me think this would be a great time to have the audio play. 5y

merelybookish I also read some scene summaries to get the gist. Otherwise, I would have missed a bunch of stuff. 5y

GingerAntics @merelybookish this play seems far more complex or complicated than many of the others we‘ve read. I think we‘re all going for whatever resources we can think of with this one. Sparknotes may even get used with this one as much as I hate to do that. 5y

Gezemice This seems like a great idea. I was taking a bard break but might get the Bruce. 5y

GingerAntics @Gezemice I love Bruce‘s retellings in prose. I highly recommend them. 5y

Gezemice I just got it. It is cheap and easy on Kindle. 5y

Gezemice I actually read a lot of retellings as a kid. We had a book called Shakespeare stories. 5y

GingerAntics @Gezemice I have a book called Stories from Shakespeare or something like that. It‘s a version from back on the 50s that finally came out as a reprint. I was borrowing an original book from a friend at one point. It‘s a different author than the one everyone talks about today. I like using those as well. I totally forgot about reading the entry for Troilus and Cressida in there. 5y

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