
How to Read a Shakespearean Play Text
Eugene Giddens(Editor)
Cambridge University Press
Published on 10. February 2011
Book
Hardback
200 pages
978-0-521-88640-6 (ISBN)
Description
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.
Reviews / Votes
'This book provides practical guidance on how to read specific bibliographical features of early modern printed playbooks, while constantly drawing attention to the larger question of how these features affect the reader's experience.' Sonia Massai, King's College London '... 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 NewsletterMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
College/higher education
Illustrations
16 Halftones, unspecified; 6 Line drawings, unspecified
Dimensions
Height: 235 mm
Width: 157 mm
Thickness: 15 mm
Weight
445 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-521-88640-6 (9780521886406)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Eugene Giddens
How to Read a Shakespearean Play Text
Book
02/2011
Cambridge University Press
€41.00
Shipment within 15-20 days
Person
Eugene Giddens is Skinner-Young Professor in Shakespeare and Renaissance Literature at Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge. He is an associate editor of The Cambridge Edition of the Works of Ben Jonson and a general editor of The Complete Works of James Shirley.
Content
Introduction; 1. The creation and circulation of play texts; 2. The features of play texts; 3. Reading the originals; 4. Reading modern editions; Bibliography.