The Shakespeare publishing industry showed no signs of slowing down in August. Nearly four dozen Shakespeare related book were released during the month. A couple of highlights include a new paperback series of Shakespeare’s plays published by the Royal Shakespeare Company and a “new” Shakespeare play adapted by novelist John Reed.
The new Royal Shakespeare Company editions will be taken from the RSC Complete Works, which was published last year. Jonathan Bate and Eric Rasmussen, who edited the RSC Complete Works, will oversee the new series.
Each edition features supporting materials including introductory and analytical essays; historical overviews of the play in performance; recommendations on the best film versions to watch; and interviews with leading actors, directors and designers
The new series is now available in the Unites States through Modern Library and will be available in the United Kingdom next month through Palgrave Macmillan. The first five volumes to be released are A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Love’s Labour’s Lost, Richard III, The Tempest and Hamlet. The remaining volumes will be issued in groups of five or six for the next three years until the series is complete.
Author John Reed’s “new” Shakespearean tragedy, All the World’s a Grave, was created by piecing together lines drawn from Hamlet, King Lear, Macbeth, Othello, Romeo and Juliet and Henry V. The plot goes something like this: Prince Hamlet goes to war for Juliet, the daughter of King Lear. Having captured Juliet as his bride, he returns home to find that his mother has murdered his father and married Macbeth. Enter Iago, who persuades Hamlet that Juliet is having an affair with Romeo. As the Prince goes mad with jealousy, King Lear mounts his army.
The play has received early praise from Sir Ian McKellen and a brief staging in New York over the Labor Day weekend.
The following is a list of Shakespeare-related books released in August. Every attempt was made to be a comprehensive as possible but some books may not be listed.
Criticism and Scholarly Research
Caliban’s Voice: The Transformation of English in Postcolonial Literatures by Bill Ashcroft (Author)
Shakespeare, National Poet-Playwright by Patrick Cheney
Shakespeare’s World/World Shakespeares: The Selected Proceedings of the International Shakespeare Association World Congress Brisbane,
by Richard Fotheringham (Editor), R. S. White (Editor), Christa Jansohn (Editor), International Shakespeare Association, World Congress Staff (Contribution by)
A Comparison of Six Adaptations of Shakespeare’s “Coriolanus” 1681-1962: How Changing Politics Influence the Interpretation of a Text by David George
Shakespeare and Laughter: A Cultural History by Indira Ghose
“Romeo and Juliet”: Parallel Texts of Quarto 1 (1597) and Quarto 2 (1599) by Jay L. Halio (Editor)
Catholics Writing the Nation in Early Modern Britain and Ireland by Christopher Highley
Hamlet and the Rethinking of Man by Eric P. Levy
Shakespeare Editions
The Necessary Shakespeare by David Bevington
All’s Well That Ends Well – Oxford World’s Classics by William Shakespeare (Author), Susan Snyder (Editor)
Cymbeline – Oxford World’s Classics by William Shakespeare, Roger Warren (Editor)
Hamlet: Prince of Denmark – Modern Library Classics with Royal Shakespeare Company by William Shakespeare, Jonathan Bate (Editor), Eric Rasmussen (Editor)
Henry VI: Pt. 1 – Oxford World’s Classics by William Shakespeare (Author), Michael Taylor (Editor)
Henry IV: Pt. 2 – Oxford World’s Classics by William Shakespeare (Author), René Weis (Editor)
Henry V – Oxford World’s Classics by William Shakespeare, Gary Taylor (Editor)
King John – Oxford World’s Classics by William Shakespeare (Author), A. R. Braunmuller (Editor)
King Lear (Shakespeare’s First Folio) by William Shakespeare (Author)
Love’s Labour’s Lost – Modern Library Classics with Royal Shakespeare Company by William Shakespeare, Jonathan Bate (Editor), Eric Rasmussen (Editor)
The Merry Wives of Windsor – Oxford World’s Classics by William Shakespeare (Author), T. W. Craik (Editor)
Midsummer Night’s Dream – Modern Library Classics with Royal Shakespeare Company by William Shakespeare, Jonathan Bate, Eric Rasmussen (Editor)
A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Shakespeare’s First Folio) by William Shakespeare (Author)
Richard III – Library Classics with Royal Shakespeare Company by William Shakespeare, Jonathan Bate (Editor), Eric Rasmussen (Editor)
Richard II – Penguin Shakespeare by William Shakespeare (Author), Paul Edmondson (Editor, Introduction), Stanley W. Wells (Editor, Series Editor), T. J. B. Spencer (Series Editor)
Romeo and Juliet (Shakespeare’s First Folio) by William Shakespeare (Author)
The Taming of the Shrew – Oxford World’s Classics by William Shakespeare, H. J. Oliver (Editor)
The Tempest – Modern Library Classics with Royal Shakespeare Company by William Shakespeare, Jonathan Bate, Eric Rasmussen (Editor)
Timon of Athens – Oxford World’s Classics by William Shakespeare (Author), John Jowett (Editor)
Troilus and Cressida – Oxford World’s Classics by William Shakespeare, Kenneth Muir (Editor)