From the blurb:
"This full colour graphic novel presents 'The
Scottish Play' adapted so that intermediate language learners can enjoy
Shakespeare too.
Macbeth
is one of the most dramatic of Shakespeare's tragedies and this version
will give learners a new and satisfying view of the genius of
Shakespeare's story telling."
Comment on the Blog !
Discovering
Macbeth - The ELT Graphic Novel from Heinle Cengage
reminds me of the first time I saw Wallace & Gromit in 'The
Wrong Trousers' adapted to English teaching. It was as though the
heavens had opened and rays of happiness, joy and nice bits of cheddar
and stilton were pouring down on tired English teachers everywhere.
Once again the ELT clouds seem to have parted and I can
already imagine cackling curses from wicked witches (in simplified
English, of course) echoing around creepy classrooms even as I type.
At least three target readerships immediately spring to
mind:
First of all, any foreign language class with a bit of
English literature on the syllabus is a no-brainer: they need this book!
Then
there's the native speakers who are obliged to tackle the classics but
who are finding the Shakespearian idiom less and less accessible. This
could be an excellent way to fire up today's youth to appreciating the
timeless lessons of life and human folly within the Bard's plays without
tears.
I don't see why adult learners shouldn't also find this
book both accessible and stimulating. The increasing popularity of the
adult-themed graphic novel (as opposed to the more immature-sounding
'comic'), linked to the gravitas of Shakespeare, means that a more
mature audience could be within this title's sights.
And to be honest, to the categories above I could quite
seriously add 'and everyone else', such is the pleasure to be had in (re)discovering
this marvellous classic in such an enjoyable way. I sat on the train and
read it right the way through the other day, and am secretly hoping it's
going to be a trilogy...
The
illustrations are truly sumptuous. Although I'm no expert in the art of
the graphic novel (practically considered a true art form where I live
in France, by the way), we are talking stunning layout, glossy colours,
punchy illustrations, superb printing quality and production. This book
is a beauty by any standards, and I'm afraid I have to say that it puts
most of the 'for ELT' produced equivalents to shame.
Macbeth - The ELT Graphic Novel is actually an ELT
adaptation of a publication from
Classical Comics who themselves
produced three versions of the play in this richly illustrated form. One
of these versions actually squeezes all of Shakespeare's original speech
into the bubbles. The next converts it to modern English without
shortening the speeches. And the third pares down the modern English
version to the absolute minimum while still retaining the full essence
of the story. The ELT version goes yet another stage further in the
simplification process, but actually manages to still keep the
excitement up, as well as adding ELT-appropriate descriptions of plot,
character sketches and a useful three page glossary.
Particularly
fascinating are the comparisons between the original text and the ELT
version with a useful 'Meaning' column which allows even those of us who
haven't got a clue what he was on about to nod wisely as we explain to
our students the 'deeper meaning' of the text and pretend we knew all
along. Example:
|
Act 1 Scene 5
Page 20 |
'Yet do I fear thy nature: It is
too full o' the milk of human kindness.' |
'But you're
too kind to do what you have to do to become
king.' |
Lady Macbeth says this as she
reads a letter from her husband. In it, he is
telling his wife about how the three witches
predicted that he will be king. However, Lady
Macbeth believes her husband is too weak, too
kind and too gentle to do what he must do to
become king: murder Duncan. |
Another interesting feature of this edition is a page on
'The Real Macbeth'. As an avowed philistine I enjoyed learning more
about the truth behind one of Shakespeare's most famous characters and
also the history of the country of my birth - Scotland. Macbeth is often
referred to amongst cognoscenti as simply 'The Scottish Play'.
Here's
a sample:
"Scotland in the eleventh century was a cruel land to
live in. It had many wars and mass killings occurred
often. Whoever ruled Scotland had to protect family,
community and the land from any enemies. However, many
of a ruler's enemies were actually the people closest to
him. These enemies were usually unhappy and jealous
relatives, who wanted to be king themselves."
The 'Real Macbeth' family tree enlightens us as to the
true context of the happenings described in the play, and a 'Link Map of
Characters in Shakespeare's Macbeth' makes the sometimes opaque
relationships clearer to the lay reader.
An
audio CD accompanies this title and again manages to avoid the
too-common cheesiness of many ELT recordings. Speech is natural and
heartfelt, the sound effects are just right (horses braying, clashing of
swords during fights).
Most of the characters have gentle Scottish lilts with
the witches being slightly more exaggerated, which gives a nice sense of
atmosphere, and only the narrator wields an albeit conspiratorial
neutral southern English accent. All in all, there's not much to tell
you that it's an ELT adaptation of a super-simplified English adaptation
of a modernised English version of the original Shakespearian text. Well
done to all concerned at Heinle Cengage and the actors too!
As
you can see, I couldn't resist including quite a few shots of the book I
took myself, before I realised that there were loads of graphics
available on the Classical Comics site, if not the actual
Heinle site - come on Heinle - don't hide your light under a
bushel and get some visuals out there!
There are actually a few other ELT graphic novel
adaptations of English classics in the same series, but I'm going to
keep mum about them until I get my grubby hands on some review copies of
my own.
Which brings me to thinking that I should reintroduce
some sort of awards ceremony for titles we've review over the course of
the year. I say 'reintroduce' because those of you old enough to
remember will remember the legendary TEFL Farm (my first web site
for English teachers more than ten years ago and its coveted 'Golden
Cowpat'! Bring back the Golden Cowpat, I hear you all cry! I do believe
that Wallace & Gromit - The Wrong Trousers was the first official
winner too!
I'm thinking of potential categories and I guess
Macbeth - The ELT Graphic Novel would fall into the ELT
Adaptation category (and immediately win it too, I imagine).
Macbeth
- The ELT Graphic Novel
