If we structure the display around a chronological publication history of Shakespeare, here's one way we could organize it:
Shelf 1 - Earliest texts and first generation of editors / Age of Pope
1600 Midsummer Night's Dream quarto
1632 Second Folio
[1709 Nicholas Rowe - EEBO - skip?]
1725 Pope - SC Archives
1733 Theobald - attacked Pope
[1747 Warburton - SC Archives - skip?]
Shelf 2 - Second generation of editors / Age of Johnson
1765 Johnson - best known for his preface
1768 Capell - first editor to base his text on quartos and folios
1773 Steevens - worked with Johnson, extremely quarrelsome
Shelf 3 - Third generation of editors / Romantic Age
1793 Reed - first variorum
1818 Bowdler - SC Archives
1821 Boswell - third variorum
I'm least certain about that first shelf - my instinct is that it's important to show an example of an early quarto and folio, just so people know what the editors were drawing from. It might leave us a little squeezed for space, though. Thoughts?
Monday, November 17, 2008
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Shakespeare adaptations
If we stick to adaptations pre-1800, these books look like they'll provide plenty of background information:
Branam, George. Eighteenth-Century Adaptations of Shakespearean Tragedy.
In addition to a very practical complete index listing all the adaptations, Branam gives a good overview of general changes made by adaptations (such as elevating diction or reducing imagery). He divides 18th-century adaptations into three chronological groups.
Dobson, Michael. The Making of the National Poet: Shakespeare, Adaptation, and Authorship 1660-1769.
Dobson makes several broad arguments about thematic alterations in the Restoration revisions, focusing on de-emphasizing monarchy and emphasizing domesticity and family, among others. This has a lot of useful treatments of specific revisions, including The Enchanted Isle.
Marsden, Jean. The Re-imagined Text: Shakespeare, Adaptation, and Eighteenth-Century Literary Theory.
Marsden is not in our library, but most of this very useful book is excerpted on Google Books. It deals with simplifications and thematic changes in the adaptations, with an emphasis on how Shakespearean criticism drove the changes.
Fischlin, Daniel. Adaptations of Shakespeare.
This is actually an anthology, but it provides concise and helpful overviews before each of the twelve adaptations printed.
Branam, George. Eighteenth-Century Adaptations of Shakespearean Tragedy.
In addition to a very practical complete index listing all the adaptations, Branam gives a good overview of general changes made by adaptations (such as elevating diction or reducing imagery). He divides 18th-century adaptations into three chronological groups.
Dobson, Michael. The Making of the National Poet: Shakespeare, Adaptation, and Authorship 1660-1769.
Dobson makes several broad arguments about thematic alterations in the Restoration revisions, focusing on de-emphasizing monarchy and emphasizing domesticity and family, among others. This has a lot of useful treatments of specific revisions, including The Enchanted Isle.
Marsden, Jean. The Re-imagined Text: Shakespeare, Adaptation, and Eighteenth-Century Literary Theory.
Marsden is not in our library, but most of this very useful book is excerpted on Google Books. It deals with simplifications and thematic changes in the adaptations, with an emphasis on how Shakespearean criticism drove the changes.
Fischlin, Daniel. Adaptations of Shakespeare.
This is actually an anthology, but it provides concise and helpful overviews before each of the twelve adaptations printed.
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