Highlights
The Groundbreaking Oxford Text
With its publication in 1988, the Oxford text provided a thorough rethinking of the entire body of Shakespeare’s work, the most far-reaching and innovative revision of the traditional canon in centuries. It brought the modern reader closer than ever before possible to Shakespeare’s plays as they were first acted. Now, The Norton Shakespeare, the result of a sustained collaboration between two publishers and two editorial teams, brings the exciting Oxford text to the classroom in a uniquely engaging and accessible student edition.
Fresh Scholarship, Lively Writing
Stephen Greenblatt’s rich and readable general introduction conveys the vitality of Shakespeare studies today. Drawing on the wealth of new scholarship on life in Early Modern England, Shakespeare’s family background and professional life, and the Elizabethan industries of theater and printing, and the subsequent centuries of Shakespeare textual editing, Greenblatt creates a fascinating window into Shakespeare’s world and works.
- Compact, lively introductions to the plays and poems discuss souces, themes, structure, stagecraft, language, and cultural issues.
- "The Shakespearean Stage" by Andrew Gurr, University of Reading, helps students understand the mindset of Elizabethan playgoers, the London theater industry, the design of the Globe, and staging techniques.
- "A Funeral Elegy by W.S.," edited and introduced by Donald W. Foster, Vassar College, enables teachers to make the poem and issues of attribution and canon formation part of classroom discussion.
The Norton Anthology Format
The Norton Shakespeare is the first and only one-volume student Shakespeare to provide a single-column text with marginal glosses. A much praised feature of Norton Anthologies for over 35 years, this page design facilitates comprehension and makes reading more enjoyable. The Norton Anthology trim size allows for a book markedly less weighty and more portable than other one-volume student editions.
Ample Help for Students
Help with reading texts:
- Marginal glosses and Annotations for ease of comprehension
- A Textual Note for each play, making clear the sometimes complicated origins of the Oxford text
- Selected Bibliographies of criticism compiled with the student in mind
- A Variant List after each play.
Tools for exploring contexts:
- Genealogies on front and back endpapers for easy reference
- A Glossary of stage and printing terms
- A Shakespearean Chronicle, an illustrated chronology of Shakespeare’s life and times
- A selection of Shakespearean Documents
- Over 150 Elizabethan and Jacobean illustrations.
Copyright © 2005, W. W. Norton & Company. All rights reserved.
XHTML, CSS, 508