Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew (2008)

William Shakespeare.
The Taming of the Shrew.
Edited by H. J. Oliver.
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008.
(This edition first published in 1982.)

Book Information: Publisher; Google Books; Amazon.com.

Book Series: The Oxford Shakespeare; Oxford World's Classics.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Editor:

• H. J. Oliver (1916–1982), AustLit, The University of Queensland.
• Papers of Harold James Oliver, National Library of Australia.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Wikipedia Articles:

Shakespeare:

• William Shakespeare (1564–1616).
• The Taming of the Shrew, written between 1590 and 1592; first published in 1623 (First Folio).
• Shakespearean comedy.

English Renaissance Drama:

• English Renaissance, 16th - 17th Centuries.
• English literature: English Renaissance (1500–1660).
• Elizabethan literature.
• English Renaissance theatre.

England during Shakespeare's Time:

• Elizabethan era, 1558–1603.
• Elizabethan government.
• Elizabeth I (1533–1603), Queen of England 1558–1603.
• Elizabeth I: Later years.
• Jacobean era, 1603–1625.
• James VI and I (1566–1625), King of England as James I, 1603–1625.
• Stuart period, 1603–1714.
• Early modern Britain, 16th – 18th Centuries.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Some alternatives to The Oxford Shakespeare edition:

• The Taming of the Shrew. The Arden Shakespeare, Third Series. Edited by Barbara Hodgdon. London: Methuen Drama, A & C Black Publishers Ltd, Bloomsbury Publishing, 2010.
  [Publisher; Google Books; Amazon.com.]
• Three Shrew Plays: Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew with The Anonymous The Taming of a Shrew and Fletcher's The Tamer Tamed. Hackett Classics. Edited by Barry Gaines and Margaret Maurer. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, Inc., 2010.
  [Publisher; Google Books; Amazon.com.]

The two above mentioned editions of The Taming of the Shrew also contain the text of the anonymous The Taming of a Shrew which is not included in The Oxford Shakespeare edition. In his Introduction to The Oxford Shakespeare edition Oliver carefully explains why A Shrew is a poor copy of Shakespeare's The Shrew and that Shakespeare's work certainly preceded A Shrew even if A Shrew appeared in print first. At first, it was confusing to me why such scholarly effort has been expended on distinguishing The Shrew from A Shrew.
Some reasons: (a) The earlier publication of A Shrew in 1594, 1596 and 1607 before the first publication of Shakespeare's The Shrew in 1623 perhaps gave or gives A Shrew some degree of legitimacy that is does not deserve and so it must be quashed. (b) A Shrew makes greater use of the Christopher Sly framing which implies that perhaps Shakespeare made some revisions to his original text which A Shrew copied and the later form of The Shrew published in 1623 reflects experience gained with theater production during the 1590s and later. This is of great interest to scholars. (c) The repeated publication of the inferior A Shrew tells us something about the popularity of The Shrew and the competitive world of Elizabethan and Jacobean theater.

The Introductions to The Oxford Shakespeare editions of Shakespeare's plays are not hand-holding expositions for children. They assume the reader is already very familiar with the play and are written with greater scholarly depth than one might expect. They do repay careful reading. Oliver's is one of the better ones I have read so far. (The abundant footnotes to the main text provide more help than a reader might need.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~