Learn more about Othello with these books related to the show, suggested by our friends at the Cambridge Public Library and Somerville Public Library:
Tyrant: Shakespeare on Politics
By Stephen Greenblatt
A look at dictators in literature by one of the leading scholars of Shakespeare.
New Boy
By Tracy Chevalier
The reimagining of Othello in Hogarth’s series of Shakespearean retellings. This time the narrative is moved to the suburbs in 1970s Washington, D.C.
Othello
By William Shakespeare
An audio performance of the play on Compact Disc format, performed by Ewan McGregor (Iago), Chiwetel Ejiofor (Othello) and cast.
Shakespeare’s Language
By Frank Kermode
A helpful resource on the language used in Shakespeare’s work. One chapter in particular focuses on the language in Othello.
William Shakespeare’s Othello
A collection of critical essays surrounding the play.
Jealousy: True Stories of Love’s Favorite Decoy
by Marcianna Blévis
A French therapist vividly and sensitively recounts stories of people who allowed jealousy to cut themselves off from love and how she helped them discover the underlying pain that was poisoning their lives. This collection of vignettes is a discerning exploration of an agonizing emotion.
White Gold: the Extraordinary Story of Thomas Pellow and Islam’s One Million White Slaves
By Giles Milton
The subtitle of Othello, “The Moor of Venice,” summarizes the character’s outsider status as a Muslim in Christian Europe. White Gold is a true story of opposite circumstances: the Englishman Thomas Pellow, who was enslaved in 1715 by pirates and became a trusted courtier of the Sultan of Morocco.
Becoming Shakespeare: The Unlikely Afterlife that Transformed a Provincial Playwright into the Bard
By Jack Lynch
Rutgers professor Lynch engagingly tells the story of the cultural changes and political events that sped Shakespeare on the posthumous road from being just another London playwright to a literary demigod.
Shakespeare in America: An Anthology from the Revolution to Now
By James Shapiro
A fascinating collection of writings on Shakespeare in American life that includes an account of an all-male performance of Othello at a US Army camp in 1846. Spoiler: Ulysses S. Grant played Desdemona.
The Serpent of Venice
By Christopher Moore
Set in Venice “a long time ago” (as the narrator says), this hilarious novel is a literary mash-up of The Merchant of Venice, Othello, and Poe’s A Cask of Amontillado. And there’s a sea monster named Viv. Need I say more?