Shakespeare’s First Folio 1623-2023: Text and Afterlives

·
· Bloomsbury Publishing
Ebook
256
Pages
Ratings and reviews aren’t verified  Learn More

About this ebook

This wide-ranging collection reflects on the various motivations that caused the Folio to come into being in 1623, 7 years after Shakespeare's death, and on how the now iconic book has been continually reimagined after its initial publication to the present day.

In honour of its original publication, Shakespeare's First Folio 1623-2023: Text and Afterlives brings together a remarkable set of ground-breaking essays by an international group of scholars. From the beginning, the publication that came to be called the 'First Folio' was defined by the tension between the book as text and the book as a material object. In this volume, the individual contributions move between these two meaningsin that they consider precursors to the First Folio in the form of reader-assembled volumes; the poetic identity of Shakespeare; and how misfortunes and successes in the early modern printing house shaped Shakespeare's text.

Chapters examine the unpredictable and often surprising subsequent histories of the book that has even been given a sacred status and become the basis of Shakespeare's unique position in the history of literature. They consider: the afterlife of the text, in relation to the reception of Shakespeare's First Folio in Spain; its presence in and influence on James Joyce's Ulysses; the role that Meisei University of Japan's Shakespeare Collection has played in the education and research of the institution; and what the collection of 82 copies at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC, tells us about the ongoing role of these books within the study of Shakespeare and the early modern period.

About the author

Matthias Bauer is Professor of English Philology at the University of Tübingen, Germany and specializes in early modern literature, with a particular focus on Shakespeare and Metaphysical Poetry. With Angelika Zirker he co-chairs a project, funded by the German National Research Foundation, on 'Co-Creativity in Early Modern English Literature.'

Angelika Zirker is Associate Professor of English Literature at the University of Tübingen, Germany. Her publications include William Shakespeare and John Donne: Stages of the Soul in Early Modern English Poetry (2019), and she is the co-editor, with Matthias Bauer, of Connotations: A Journal for Critical Debate.

Rate this ebook

Tell us what you think.

Reading information

Smartphones and tablets
Install the Google Play Books app for Android and iPad/iPhone. It syncs automatically with your account and allows you to read online or offline wherever you are.
Laptops and computers
You can listen to audiobooks purchased on Google Play using your computer's web browser.
eReaders and other devices
To read on e-ink devices like Kobo eReaders, you'll need to download a file and transfer it to your device. Follow the detailed Help Center instructions to transfer the files to supported eReaders.