Overview
There is no Shakespeare without text. Yet readers often do not realize that the words in the book they hold, like the dialogue they hear from the stage, has been revised, augmented and emended since Shakespeare’s lifetime. An essential resource for the history of Shakespeare on the page, Shakespeare and Textual Theory traces the explanatory underpinnings of these changes through the centuries. After providing an introduction to early modern printing practices, Suzanne Gossett describes the original quartos and folios as well as the first collected editions. Subsequent sections summarize the work of the ‘New Bibliographers’ and the radical challenge to their technical analysis posed by poststructuralist theory, which undermined the presumed stability of author and text. Shakespeare and Textual Theory presents a balanced view of the current theoretical debates, which include the nature of the surviving texts we call Shakespeare’s; the relationship of the author ‘Shakespeare’ and of authorial intentions to any of these texts; the extent and nature of Shakespeare’s collaboration with others; and the best or most desirable way to present the texts - in editions or performances. The book is illustrated throughout with examples showing how theoretical decisions affect the text of Shakespeare’s plays, and case studies of Hamlet and Pericles demonstrate how different theories complicate both text and meaning, whether a play survives in one version or several. The conclusion summarizes the many ways in which beliefs about Shakespeare’s texts have changed over the centuries.
Full Product Details
Author: Prof. Suzanne Gossett (Loyola University Chicago, USA) ,
Dr Evelyn Gajowski (University of Nevada, Las Vegas, USA)
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Imprint: The Arden Shakespeare
Weight: 0.395kg
ISBN: 9781350121249
ISBN 10: 135012124
Pages: 272
Publication Date: 10 February 2022
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Tertiary & Higher Education
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: Manufactured on demand
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.
Reviews
[A] clearly written and useful explanation of the state of Shakespeare and Textual Theory. * The Year's Work in English Studies * Gossett’s breadth of knowledge allows readers to move easily between Shakespeare’s time and the last two centuries of criticism … She treats the reader to stylistic clarity, grace in advancing her ideas, and economy of exposition. * Shakespeare Quarterly *
The breadth of [the author's] scholarly knowledge, the depth of her editorial experience, and the quality of her pedagogical aptitude are all strongly evident in the book and, combined, produce a text that serves as a useful reference for the seasoned Shakespearean as well as an invaluable tool for the neophyte textual scholar. * Textual Cultures *
[A] clearly written and useful explanation of the state of Shakespeare and Textual Theory. * The Year's Work in English Studies *
Author Information
Suzanne Gossett is Professor Emerita of English at Loyola University Chicago, USA. Her publications include essays on theatrical collaboration, Shakespeare’s late plays, and textual editing. She is a General Textual Editor of the Norton Shakespeare, 3rd edition, and a General Editor of Arden Early Modern Drama. She has edited many plays by Shakespeare and his contemporaries, including Pericles and All’s Well That Ends Well for the Arden Shakespeare, Middleton’s A Fair Quarrel for the Collected Middleton, and Beaumont and Fletcher’s Philaster for Arden Early Modern Drama. She is a past president of the Shakespeare Association of America and, together with Dympna Callaghan, she edited Shakespeare in Our Time in honor of the 2016 anniversary year.
