Early Modern Playhouse Manuscripts and the Editing of Shakespeare

Early Modern Playhouse Manuscripts and the Editing of Shakespeare argues for editing Shakespeare's plays in a new way, without pretending to distinguish authorial from theatrical versions. Drawing on the work of the influential scholars A. W. Pollard and W. W. Greg, Werstine tackles the difficult issues surrounding 'foul papers' and 'promptbooks' to redefine these fundamental categories of current Shakespeare editing. In an extensive and detailed analysis, this book offers insight into the methods of theatrical personnel and a reconstruction of backstage practices in playhouses of Shakespeare's time. The book also includes a detailed analysis of nineteen manuscripts and three quartos marked up for performance - documents that together provide precious insight into how plays were put into production. Using these surviving manuscripts as a framework, Werstine goes on to explore editorial choices about what to give today's readers as 'Shakespeare'.

Author: Paul Werstine
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 04/09/2015
Pages: 448
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.31lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.91d
ISBN: 9781107515468

About the Author
Werstine, Paul: - Paul Werstine has spent his career teaching Shakespeare and Medieval and Renaissance English Literature at King's University College and in the Graduate Program of the University of Western Ontario. Among his teaching awards are the King's College Award for Excellence in Teaching, 2003 and awards from the graduating classes of 2003, 2007 and 2009. From 1981-9 he served as Associate Editor, with Editor Leeds Barroll, of Medieval and Renaissance Drama in England. He is co-editor, with Barbara A. Mowat, of the Folger Shakespeare Library edition of Shakespeare's plays and poems. He is also co-general editor, with Richard Knowles, of the Modern Language Association's New Variorum Shakespeare edition and particularly of The Winter's Tale (2005) and The Comedy of Errors (2011). He has written many articles about the early printings of Shakespeare, about the Shakespeare editorial tradition and about early modern dramatic manuscripts. In 2010 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.