Reprinted from Green Man Review.
Somehow this massive volume got cataloged into the Library several years back here at the Estate without actually being reviewed, which was definitely a mistake on our part. I would’ve have handed it off with a bit of regret to another staffer for reviewing as I do love Will and his works, but I made the mistake of peeking inside it before doing so as, after all, that’s what librarians do!
My, what a glorious work this is! Though I had for many years considered The Riverside Shakespeare to be the best single volume edition of the complete works of this playwright, I think that this has to be the best edition now on the market. Why this is will be discussed after a look at how this edition came to be.
As is the standard practice with these complete Shakespearean collections, it is based on the work done by Shakespeare’s fellow actors in 1623, what is called the First Folio which, of course, was the original Complete Works. It is without doubt the most important (and influential) literary work in the English language, but starting with Nicholas Rowe, in the early 1700s and continuing to the present day, editors have mixed Folio and Quarto texts, rather nicely corrupting the original Complete Works with errors and conflated textual variations.
Jonathan Bate and Eric Rasmussen, two of today’s most accomplished Shakespearean scholars, have edited the First Folio as a complete book, resulting in what the publisher claims is the definitive complete works for the twenty-first century. As Modern Library notes on their Web site, in combining “innovative scholarship with brilliant commentary and textual analysis that emphasizes performance history and values, this landmark edition will be indispensable to students, theater professionals, and general readers alike.”
Hmmm. . . . A bold claim indeed!
Indeed, this edition of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Shakespeare has a lot to recommend it. First, the text is beautifully set in single column format rather than the two column format of The Riverside Shakespeare, making it far easier for actors and readers to actually read the text. And it is clearly intended to be read. I think most folks forget is that Shakespeare was a bloody great writer, as just these few lines from ‘Macbeth’ demonstrate clearly:
First Witch: When shall we three meet again
In thunder, lightning, or in rain?
Second Witch: When the hurlyburly’s done,
When the battle’s lost and won.
Lovely aren’t they, these witches three, in setting the tone of what’s to come? It’s no wonder that some fifty films have been made of The Scottish Play? Or that myriad bloody summer theatre houses mount productions of it every year?
Reading a Shakespearean play on a cold, windy winter’s night by the fireside in the Library here with a single malt whisky, preferably one of the Laphroaigs, has long been a favourite pastime of mine. Now I admit that I probably won’t use this as my reading text, as the Oxford University editions are a better reading experience, but this will make a splendid reference work when I need a single volume source on the plays with the text of the plays included. (Shakespeare reference works are as common as drunken actors late in night after a play is done. And generally just as hard to understand.) Here it really does show here that the editors were engaged in their work as the excellent general introduction by Jonathan Bate and the essays and notes on each play are truly a smorgasbord of both literary and historical information.
I could go on for several more detailed paragraphs gushing at length about this volume, but I won’t detail all of that as all the information on this Modern Library edition is here.
Suffice it to say, that this volume will reside in my office as a reference, but it will not replace the Oxford University editions as my favoured reading texts. Bottom line is that this is a reference work, not a reading text despite the fact that They have used modern spelling and punctuation, and have corrected) the text against Quarto texts (where these exist as they don’t exist in all cases), but have not blended Quarto and Folio versions, something most previous editors have done with a great degree of recklessness for generations.
They would make the best reading texts I’ve encountered if they were available in single play volumes. Let’s hope they are released in that manner sooner than later as I look forward to reading their version of The Scottish Play on a cold winters night with the fire roaring and a wee dram of single malt in hand!
(Modern Library, 2007)
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