How to Read a Shakespearean Play Text

An invaluable introductory guide for students on how to engage with the original printed texts of Shakespeare and his contemporaries.

Eugene Giddens (Edited by)

9780521713979, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 10 February 2011

198 pages, 22 b/w illus.
22.8 x 15.2 x 1 cm, 0.32 kg

'… the clarity and resourcefulness of Eugene Giddens' How to Read a Shakespearean Playtext [is] for not only students of English and Renaissance Drama, but students of all literatures … The key word with this new book is accessibility … I wish to promote Eugene Giddens' book primarily for its ease of use as a resource, a reference book, and a colourful narrative of the stories that texts tell.' The Shakespeare Bookshop Newsletter

This is an invaluable introductory guide for the English student who needs to decipher a page from a play, or a facsimile equivalent, from the Shakespearean period. The original quartos and folios of early play texts are increasingly subject to editorial and critical scrutiny, and electronic facsimiles are making the originals accessible to undergraduate and graduate students. Giddens provides a practical 'how to' guide to the original printed texts of Shakespeare and his contemporaries. He explains how the features of the play text came about, what the different elements mean, and who created them. The book provides that important first step towards bibliography and critical editing, presenting a detailed account of how to read these early texts and how they have been turned into the modern editions we are accustomed to.

Introduction
1. The creation and circulation of play texts
2. The features of play texts
3. Reading the originals
4. Reading modern editions
Bibliography.

Subject Areas: Shakespeare studies & criticism [DSGS], Literary studies: c 1500 to c 1800 [DSBD], Shakespeare plays [DDS]