3 - Editions and Textual Studies

Summary

As one of the editors of the Oxford Shakespeare Complete Works, I should declare an ambivalent and unmercenary interest in the Norton Shakespeare, based on the Oxford text. For the Norton editors, the value of the Oxford lies in its authoritative challenge to previous editorial practice as it is still represented in its rivals. Norton have reprinted the Oxford Textual Companion (1987) in a paperback edition (available in North America only). It is a reminder that the massive documentation in the Oxford Shakespeare Companion lies behind the Norton edition, though it remains at one remove, for the Norton edition purports to be freestanding. The Norton edition on the whole preserves the integrity of the Oxford text, and builds around it generously extensive annotations, introductions, appendices, bibliographies, and illustrations, including skeleton textual documentation for each work and a valuable essay on the Shakespearian stage by Andrew Gurr. To many, the combination of Oxford textualism, the sophisticated critical acumen of the editorial team led by Stephen Greenblatt, and the well-calculated generosity afforded by the Norton format will make this the best complete works available. The Norton edition can be considered as a major new edition in its own right, and presents a direct challenge to the Riverside and Bevington Complete Works that dominate the American market.