Shylock, the Merchant of Venice

As with many of his French contemporaries, Alfred de Vigny (1797-1863) enjoyed the challenge of reworking William Shakespeare's classic plays for a modern audience. "Shylock" (1830) eliminates many of the comic elements of the master's original and focuses on the darker themes of racial prejudice and the relationship between Jew and gentile. The result is another stunning resurrection and reinterpretation of a dramatic masterwork.

Translated for the very first time into English!

Since retiring from the legal profession, FRANK J. MORLOCK has translated over a hundred plays from eighteenth- and nineteenth-century French originals, and has also penned a number of original dramas of his own. In 2006 he was honored with an award from the North American Jules Verne Society. He lives and works in Maryland.