The Winter's Tale

This newly-edited 2007 edition of The Winter's Tale comes with a detailed introduction and full commentary.

William Shakespeare (Author), Susan Snyder (Edited by), Deborah T. Curren-Aquino (Edited by)

9780521221580, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 8 March 2007

308 pages, 30 b/w illus.
22.9 x 16.1 x 2.3 cm, 0.61 kg

'… The New Cambridge Shakespeare produces superb editions that rank with the Arden and the Oxford as the best in the business. This year's The Winter's Tale is no exception.' Studies in English Literature

The New Cambridge Shakespeare appeals to students worldwide for its up-to-date scholarship and emphasis on performance. The series features line-by-line commentaries and textual notes on the plays and poems and an extensive introduction. The Winter's Tale is one of Shakespeare's most varied, theatrically self-conscious, and emotionally wide-ranging plays. Much of the play's copiousness inheres in its generic intermingling of tragedy, comedy, romance, pastoral, and the history play. In addition to dates and sources, the introduction attends to iterative patterns, the nature and cause of Leontes' jealousy, the staging and meaning of the bear episode, and the thematic and structural implications of the figure of Time. Special attention is paid to the ending and its tempered happiness. Performance history is integrated throughout the introduction and commentary. Appendices include the theatrical practice of doubling.

Introduction: Genre and title
Iterative patterns: sameness with a difference
Leontes' jealousy in criticism and performance
'Exit pursued by a bear'
The figure of Time
Act 5 and the triumphs of Time
The Winter's Tale's sense of an ending: happiness qualified
Date
Sources
Note on the text
List of characters
The play
Supplementary notes
Textual analysis
Appendices: A. Simon Forman's notes on The Winter's Tale
B. Some doubling possibilities in The Winter's Tale
C. The Winter's Tale in performance: selected issues, scenes, and passages
D. The Winter's Tale: a select performance chronology
Reading list.

Subject Areas: Shakespeare plays [DDS]