Synopses & Reviews
The Winter's Tale is one of Shakespeare's most varied, theatrically self-conscious, and emotionally wide-ranging plays. This edition provides a newly edited text, a comprehensive introduction that takes into account current critical thinking, and a detailed commentary on the play's language designed to make it easily accessible to contemporary readers. Much of the play's copiousness inheres in its generic intermingling of tragedy, comedy, romance, pastoral, and the history play. In addition to dates and sources, the introduction attends to iterative patterns, the nature and cause of Leontes' jealousy, the staging and meaning of the bear episode, and the thematic and structural implications of the figure of Time. Special attention is paid to the ending and its tempered happiness. Performance history is integrated throughout the introduction and commentary. Textual analysis, four appendices - including the theatrical practice of doubling, and a select chronology of performance history - and a reading list complete the edition.
Review
"Aimed at a more scholarly audience, the New Cambridge Shakespeare produces superb editions that rank with the Arden and the Oxford as the best in the business. This year's The Winter's Tale is no exception. Edited by the late Susan Snyder and Deborah T. Curren-Aquino, this edition has a lucid and intelligent introduction that covers all of the crucial elements of this complicated late play: genre; Leontes' jealousy; the bear; Time; act V and the ending. There is also a fascinating discussion of the revision theory-Forman did not mention the statue scene in his 1611 account of the play, after all-but the edition decides against the theory, in spite of Snyder's having made the most eloquent case for it in 2002. There is a very useful discussion of sources, the notes to the play are exemplary, and the Selected Reading list is both excellent and up-to-date. Although the appendix concentrates on performance issues (Forman's notes on the play, doubling possibilities, key staging choices, a performance chronology), the edition is notable for its blend of textual and performance discussions. Especially effective is the decision to match photographs of the play in performance with the thematic issues under discussion. The visual variations on the statue scene are especially welcome and will be a boon in the classroom. Finally, although it has become fashionable in recent years for critics, editors, and directors to darken the ending, this edition opts for ambiguity rather than pessimism and seems truer to The Winter's Tale's hybrid, tragicomic spirit as a result."
-Studies in English Literature, Spring 2008
Synopsis
The New Cambridge Shakespeare appeals to students worldwide for its up-to-date scholarship and emphasis on performance. The series features line-by-line commentaries and textual notes on the plays and poems and an extensive introduction. The Winter's Tale is one of Shakespeare's most varied, theatrically self-conscious, and emotionally wide-ranging plays. Much of the play's copiousness inheres in its generic intermingling of tragedy, comedy, romance, pastoral, and the history play. In addition to dates and sources, the introduction attends to iterative patterns, the nature and cause of Leontes' jealousy, the staging and meaning of the bear episode, and the thematic and structural implications of the figure of Time. Special attention is paid to the ending and its tempered happiness. Performance history is integrated throughout the introduction and commentary. Appendices include the theatrical practice of doubling.
Synopsis
This edition of The Winterâs Tale provides a newly edited text, an introduction that takes into account current critical thinking, and a commentary on the playâs language designed to make it easily accessible to contemporary readers. In addition to dates and sources, the introduction attends to the playâs generic complexity, iterative patterns, Leontesâjealousy, the bear episode, and the figure of Time. Performance history is integrated throughout the introduction and commentary. Textual analysis, four appendices - including a select chronology of performance history - and a reading list complete the edition.
Synopsis
A newly edited edition of The Winter's Tale, with a detailed introduction and full commentary.
Synopsis
The Winter's Tale is one of Shakespeare's most varied, theatrically self-conscious, and emotionally wide-ranging plays. This edition provides a newly edited text, a comprehensive introduction that takes into account current critical thinking, and a detailed commentary on the play's language designed to make it easily accessible to contemporary readers.
About the Author
Susan Snyder was formerly a scholar in residence at the Folger Shakespeare Library and a former Professor of English at Swarthmore College.Deborah T. Curren-Aquino is Reader at the Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington DC.
Table of Contents
Introduction: Genre and title; Iterative patterns: sameness with a difference; Leontes' jealousy in criticism and performance; 'Exit pursued by a bear'; The figure of Time; Act 5 and the triumphs of Time; The Winter's Tale's sense of an ending: happiness qualified; Date; Sources; Note on the text; List of characters; THE PLAY; Supplementary notes; Textual analysis; Appendices: A. Simon Forman's notes on The Winter's Tale; B. Some doubling possibilities in The Winter's Tale; C. The Winter's Tale in performance: selected issues, scenes, and passages; D. The Winter's Tale: a select performance chronology; Reading list.