All's Well that Ends Well

by William Shakespeare, Russell Fraser (Editor), Alexander Leggatt (Introduction)

Overview

The New Cambridge Shakespeare appeals to students worldwide for its up-to-date scholarship and emphasis on performance. The series features line-by-line commentaries and textual notes on the plays and poems. Introductions are regularly refreshed with accounts of new critical, stage and screen interpretations. For the second edition of All's Well That Ends Well, Alexander Leggatt has written a completely new introduction to Russell Fraser's text of one of Shakespeare's most puzzling, ambiguous and demanding plays. Leggatt's interest in performance is evident throughout the introduction, particularly in his discussion of the instability of the main characters. He also provides a full, illustrated and thoughtful account of the play's critical and theatrical fortunes to the end of the twentieth century, and explores our experience as an audience of seeing and hearing the play performed. An updated reading list completes the volume.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781139836388
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	01/19/2004
Series:	The New Cambridge Shakespeare
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	4 MB

About the Author

Susan Snyder is Gil and Frank Mustin Professor of English Literature, Swarthmore College, Pennsylvania.

Date of Death:

2018

Place of Birth:

Stratford-upon-Avon, United Kingdom

Place of Death:

Stratford-upon-Avon, United Kingdom

Table of Contents

List of illustrations; Preface; Abbreviations and conventions; Introduction by Alexander Leggatt: Sources and traditions; The Shakespearean context (and the date); Critical reception and stage history; The play; Note on the text; List of characters; THE PLAY; Textual analysis; Reading list.

Editorial Reviews

"The New Cambridge Shakespeare's updated All's Well is a first-class edition, suited for advanced readers who want a copiously footnoted but otherwise unadorned edition for the play." Sixteenth Century Journal Patrick McHenry, Columbus State University

From the Publisher

All the performances in this production are polished. It's a pure pleasure to hear the lines delivered for their meter still ring with emotion, and Emma Fielding is particularly strong as Helena. She manages to make listeners feel both the vulnerability and the strength of her badly treated character. However, the performance as a whole is not fully satisfying; too many of the play's high points depend upon deception, for example, the display of key items (like Bertram's ring) for the sight of the audience, or upon character reactions. Partially, this is due to the extreme faithfulness with which the stage version is adapted; a more liberal adaptation might have captured key points more successfully. G.T.B. © AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine

DEC 03/JAN 04 - AudioFile