3 - Editions and Textual Studies

Summary

When Harold Bloom talks, people listen. In Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human, Bloom gave his imprimatur to one series ('I recommend the Arden Shakespeare') while dismissing another edition out of hand ('I have avoided the New Oxford Shakespeare'). Although Bloom's ex cathedra pronouncements have occasioned some spirited responses, I'm not particularly anxious about their influence - save that my review of this year's additions to the Arden and Oxford series coincidentally confirms Bloom's prejudices: whereas I can highly recommend the new Arden 3 editions of 1 Henry IV and Richard II, I would advise serious students to approach with caution the new Oxford edition of the poems.

The Oxford Complete Sonnets and Poems, edited by Colin Burrow, is one of the most error-riddled critical editions of Shakespeare in recent memory. All told, there are twenty-six substantive errors in the text, including several that could significantly affect interpretation: for 'breathes' read 'breeds' (Venus 742), for 'reweaves' read 'unweaves' (Venus 991; a mistake that not only weakens the Penelope allusion but invents a word, reweaves, that does not appear in the Shakespeare canon), for 'sweet' read 'swift' (Venus 1190), for 'will' read 'ill' (Lucrece 91; the slip is exacerbated by a substantial commentary note on will), for 'wretch' read 'wench' (Lucrece 1273), for 'ringing' read 'hanging' (Lucrece 1493). I should make it clear that these are not intentional emendations, but unintended errors that often render the lines in question nonsensical.