REVIEW: ‘That Way Madness Lies: XV of Shakespeare’s Most Notable Works Reimagined’
Image courtesy of Flatiron Books / Provided by official site.
The new anthology That Way Madness Lies: XV of Shakespeare’s Most Notable Works Reimagined, edited by Dahlia Adler, is a fun and at times poignant examination of William Shakespeare’s canon, seen through a contemporary lens with a host of talented writers at the helm. The book, out now from Flatiron, stresses the “reimagined” part of its title. Some of the tales mirror the Bard’s original narratives, while others use his character names and plots as mere starting-off points, taking the reader into uncharted, and welcome, territory.
Many of the highlights from the canon are present and accounted for, including unique takes on Twelfth Night, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Much Ado About Nothing and Hamlet, among others. As with any anthology of this kind, there are pieces that jump off the page and provide fitting contextualization and clever mimicry, while a few don’t exactly hit their mark.
One underlying theme in this carefully curated tome is giving voice to the many individuals and communities who were neglected by Shakespeare, and by virtue of this new emphasis, there’s better representation and a feeling of inclusivity within these pages. Many LGBTQ+ characters are featured, as one example. Many characters are people of color. Women are profound and centralized throughout the narratives, and there is even a rewrite and reexamination of the controversial play The Merchant of Venice (“I Bleed” by Adler), which modernizes that challenging work and adds a different perspective to the stereotypes in the original.
That Way Madness Lies should also be applauded for its change in style and structure. One example is Tochi Onyebuchi’s piece, “The Tragedy of Cory Lanez: An Oral History,” which is inspired by Coriolanus; the story delves deep into the life and memorialization of its title character, a rapper/singer from Long Beach, California. What makes it so unique is that the prose is presented as an oral history “by those who knew him best.” It features conversational passages of remembrance about a person the reader comes to know by those he impacted and inspired in life.
Perhaps the best of the bunch is Kiersten White’s “Partying Is Such Sweet Sorrow,” which is obviously based on Romeo and Juliet. This tale, also breaking from the traditional short-story style, is presented as a series of text messages amongst the Capulets and Montagues. There are missives between two characters, plus some group chats where young love is explored and bitter rivalry is stoked. The story features a relaxed, text-driven language that feels authentic and never gimmicky. Grammar and spelling are slightly off; punctuation is largely missing; and sometimes crassness takes over the dialogue (Capulet becoming “crapulet”). The entire experiment works wondrously and adds to the original story in so many interesting and fascinating ways. When the police are searching out the suspects, the reader gets to see the fear and frustration of those involved by inspecting their hurried texts to one another. When the characters are trying to find out what is happening or where the others are located, there’s a real sense of urgency. This one is well worth the read.
Kudos to Brittany Cavallaro for creating a story out of Sonnet 147. There’s also a stark power to the proceedings detailed in Lindsay Smith’s “Dreaming of the Dark,” based on Julius Caesar, and that “I Bleed” story by Adler is unsettling, involving and ultimately important to compare and contrast with the Bard’s original.
That Way Madness Lies, which comes on the heels of a similar anthology based on the work of Edgar Allan Poe, is an appreciated compendium to the work of Shakespeare, and it’s perfectly suited for young adults. As Adler’s introduction makes clear, the Bard’s work is stellar but also “very white and very straight.” This book allows Adler and company the chance to reinterpret and expand upon the source material, creating a new set of works that are in concert with the original plays everyone has come to learn and appreciate.
That Way Madness Lies is filled with creativity, contextualization and contemporary parallels that create new commentaries on cherished plays from the mightiest of canons.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
That Way Madness Lies: XV of Shakespeare’s Most Notable Works Reimagined edited by Dahlia Adler. Flatiron Books. 336 pages. Ages 12-18. Click here for more information.
