NEW EDITIONS

King Richard III Third Series James R. Siemon, Boston University Richard III is one of the great Shakespearean characters and roles. James R Siemon examines the attraction of this villain to audiences and focuses on how beguiling, even funny, he can be, especially in the earlier parts of the play. Siemon also places King Richard III in its historical context; as Elizabeth I had no heirs the issue of succession was a very real one for Shakespeare's audience. The introduction is well-illustrated and provides a comprehensive account of the play, critical approaches to it and its varied stage history. The edition also provides a clear and authoritative playtext, edited to the most rigorous standards of scholarship, with detailed notes and commentary on the same page. With a wealth of helpful and incisive commentary the Arden Shakespeare is the finest edition of Shakespeare you can find, giving a deeper understanding and appreciation of his work.

September 2009 Paperback: 9781903436899 £8.99 US$17.00 Hardback: 9781903436882 £65.00 US$100.00

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THE ARDEN SHAKESPEARE
428pp 2008 Paperback: 9781903436998 £8.99 US$17.00 Hardback: 9781903436981 £65.00 US$100.00

Twelfth Night Third Series Keir Elam, Università di Bologna In recent years, stage productions and critical discussions of the play have uncovered new energies and emphases, centred above all on the cross-dressed Viola and the related issues of identity, subjectivity and gender. The introduction explores these and other topics within a cultural history of the play’s production and reception, exploring the social and physical dangers involved in transvestism, as well as its theatrical implications. Moreover, this edition looks in detail at language and interpretation, including the reliability of the linguistic sign itself – one of the primary problems in a play where, as Feste the clown observes, ‘Nothing that is so is so.’

NEW EDITIONS

Timon of Athens Third Series Anthony B. Dawson, University of British Columbia

Gretchen E. Minton,

Montana State University

Timon of Athenshas struck many readers as rough and unpolished, perhaps even unfinished, though to others it has appeared as Shakespeare’s most profound tragic allegory. This edition accepts and contributes to the growing scholarly consensus that the play is not Shakespeare’s solo work, but is the result of his collaboration with Thomas Middleton, who wrote about a third of it. Tracing both its satirical and tragic strains, the introduction presents a perspective on the play’s meanings that combines careful elucidation of historical context with analysis of its relevance to modern-day society. An extensive and well-illustrated account of the play’s production history generates a rich sense of how the play can speak to different historical moments in specific and rewarding ways.

450pp 2008 Paperback: 9781903436974 £8.99 US$17.00 Hardback: 9781903436967 £65.00 US$100.00

www.ardenshakespeare.com

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