Twelfth Night (third Series)

By (author) Shakespeare, William; Edited by Elam Keir
Short description/annotation
Critically acclaimed as one of Shakespeare''s most complex and intriguing plays, "Twelfth Night" is a classic romantic comedy of mistaken identities. This book explores the factors that make up the play''s textual, theatrical, critical and cultural history. It surveys the play''s production and reception and emphasizes the role of the spectator.
Description
Critically acclaimed as one of Shakespeare''s most complex and intriguing plays, Twelfth Night is a classic romantic comedy of mistaken identities. In recent years it has returned to the centre of critical debate surrounding gender and sexuality. The Introduction explores the multiple factors that make up the play''s rich textual, theatrical, critical and cultural history. Keir Elam surveys the play''s production and reception, emphasizing the role of the spectator both within the comedy and the playhouse.
Review quote
''Brings together into one volume a wealth of textual, bibliographical, and critical scholarship...emplifies scholarly achievement...'' Shakespeare Quarterly (2009)
Biographical note
William Shakespeare (1564-1616) was an English dramatist, poet, and actor, generally regarded as the greatest playwright of all time. Keir Elam is Professor of English Literature at the University of Bologna, where he is resident member of the Institute for Advanced Studies and evaluator for the Humanities in the University Research Observatory (Osservatorio della Ricerca).
Promotional headline
The latest Arden edition of Shakespeare''s Twelfth Night
Description for collection
The Arden Shakespeare has long set the gold standard in annotated, scholarly editions of Shakespeare''s plays. Each Arden edition in the Third Series offers a modernized text with comprehensive commentary notes glossing meanings, discussing staging issues and explaining literary allusions, together with a lengthy, illustrated introduction by a leading scholar exploring the play''s critical, theatrical and historical contexts. Praise for the series: "The gold standard for modern editorial scholarship." – Sixteenth Century Journal "One of the best regarded scholarly editions of Shakespeare''s plays." – The Times "One of the landmark publishing ventures of our time ... The care for standards, and meticulous attention to detail ... have made the Arden Shakespeare one of the great achievements of modern literary scholarship." – The New Criterion "Arden 3 stands as a book of memory and of aspiration, a record of our progress as a field and a profession, and a reminder of how much further we have to go ... Editorial practices developed in the Third Series established a precedent for innovation and discipline while producing texts that engaged readers with the most exciting advances of early modern textual studies." – Shakespeare Survey "[A] priceless contribution to Shakespeare studies ... The Arden editions, attractively produced and increasingly weighty, have become, so to speak, the market standard, the first port of call for students and academics alike." – SEDERI, Yearbook of the Spanish and Portuguese Society for English Renaissance Studies