Julius Caesar: A Norton Critical Edition / Edition 1

by William Shakespeare, S. P. Cerasano

Overview

Shakespeare’s tragedy of one of the most famous assassinations in the world at an epoch-changing time in history.

This richly documented Norton Critical Edition of Julius Caesar is based on the 1623 First Folio text. It is accompanied by a note on the text, an introduction that sets the biographical and historical stage necessary to appreciate this richly allusive play, explanatory annotations, a map, and five illustrations.

“Sources and Contexts” presents possible sources as well as analogues to Julius Caesar, an account of Shakespeare’s understanding of and approach to Roman history, and Ernest Schanzer’s study of the narrative challenges posed by the play.

“Criticism” includes early commentary—by, among others, Samuel Johnson, William Hazlitt, and Harley Granville-Barker—on Julius Caesar as well as modern interpretations. Among these are John W. Velz on role-playing in Julius Caesar; Jan H. Blits on Caesar’s ambiguous end; Paul A. Cantor on rhetoric, poetry and the Roman republic; and R. A. Foakes on the themes of assassination and mob violence.

“Performance History” reprints accounts of various aspects of staging Julius Caesar by Sidney Homan, John Nettles, and
Robert F. Willson, Jr.

A Film Bibliography and Selected Bibliography are also included.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393932638
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	07/12/2012
Series:	Norton Critical Editions Series
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 8.30(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

S. P. Cerasano is the Edgar W. B. Fairchild Professor of Literature at Colgate University. She has published numerous books, as well as articles in Shakespeare Quarterly, Shakespeare Survey, Shakespeare Studies, and other academic journals. She is the editor of Medieval and Renaissance Drama in England and has served as a consultant to members of the Archaeology Division of the Museum of London concerning the excavation of the Rose Play house site. She is currently editing Edward Alleyn’s diary.

Date of Death:

2018

Place of Birth:

Stratford-upon-Avon, United Kingdom

Place of Death:

Stratford-upon-Avon, United Kingdom

Read an Excerpt

Act 1 Scene 1 running scene 1
(Continues…)

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Excerpted from "Julius Caesar"
by .
Copyright © 1998 William Shakespeare.
Excerpted by permission of Penguin Publishing Group.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

Series Introduction     ix
Introduction   Harold Bloom     xi
Biography of William Shakespeare     1
Summary of Julius Caesar     5
Key Passages in Julius Caesar     21
List of Characters in Julius Caesar     31
Criticism Through the Ages     35
Julius Caesar in the Seventeenth Century     37
1601-From The Mirror of Martyrs   John Weever     38
1641-"De Shakespeare nostrat[i]," from Timber, or Discoveries Made Upon Men and Matter   Ben Jonson     39
1672-"Prologue to Julius Caesar"   John Dryden     39
1693-From A Short View of Tragedy   Thomas Rymer     40
Julius Caesar in the Eighteenth Century     49
1739-Chapter IV, from An Apology for the Life of Mr. Colley Cibber   Colley Cibber     50
1748-Section X, from Critical Observations on Shakespeare   John Upton     53
1761-"Essay on Tragedy," from Critical Essays on Dramatic Poetry   Voltaire     54
1768-"Julius Caesar," from General Observations on Shakspeare's Plays   Samuel Johnson     55
1769-"Upon the Death of Julius Caesar," from An Essay on the Writings and Genius of Shakespear   Elizabeth Montagu     56
Julius Caesar in the Nineteenth Century     61
1809-From Lectures on Dramatic Art and Literature   August Wilhelm Schlegel     63
1813-1816-"Shakespeare Compared with the Ancients and the Moderns," from Shakespeare Ad Infinitum   Johann Wolfgang von Goethe     64
1817-"Julius Caesar," from Characters of Shakespear's Plays   William Hazlitt     67
1818-"Julius Caesar," from Lectures and Notes on Shakspere and Other English Poets   Samuel Taylor Coleridge     72
1846-From Shakespeare's Dramatic Art, and His Relation to Calderon and Goethe   Hermann Ulrici     74
1849-1850-"Character of Caesar," from Shakespeare Commentaries   Georg Gottfried Gervinus     77
1872-From Shakespeare: His Life, Art, and Characters   H.N. Hudson     79
1875-From Shakspere: A Critical Study of His Mind and Art   Edward Dowden     81
1879-"Julius Caesar (continued). Casca. Cicero. Portia," from Shakespeare and Classical Antiquity: Greek and Latin Antiquity as Presented in Shakespeare's Plays   Paul Stapfer     83
1882-"In Honour of Shakespeare," from The Complete Works of Friedrich Nietzsche   Friedrich Nietzsche     94
1893-"How the Play of Julius Caesar Works to a Climax at the Centre: A Study in Passion and Movement," from Shakespeare as a Dramatic Artist: A Popular Illustration of the Principles of Scientific Criticism   Richard G. Moulton     95
1894-"Julius Caesar: Critical Remarks," from The Works of William Shakespeare   Oscar Fay Adams   Frank A. Marshall     107
1898-"Tappertit on Caesar," from Our Theatres in the Nineties   George Bernard Shaw     113
Julius Caesar in the Twentieth Century     117
1931-"The Eroticism of Julius Caesar," from The Imperial Theme: Further Interpretations of Shakespeare's Tragedies Including the Roman Plays   G. Wilson Knight     119
1935-"Antony in Behalf of the Play," from The Southern Review   Kenneth Burke     146
1946-"Julius Caesar: The Play's Structure," from Prefaces to Shakespeare   Harley Granville-Barker     155
1947-"Julius Caesar," from Lectures on Shakespeare   W.H. Auden     176
1951-"Julius Caesar," from The Meaning of Shakespeare   Harold C. Goddard     188
1955-"Introduction: Language and Imagery," from Julius Caesar   T.S. Dorsch     212
1986-"Julius Caesar," from Shakespeare's Tragedies: An Introduction   Dieter Mehl     220
1994-"Introduction," from Julius Caesar   Harold Bloom     241
1996-"Introduction," from Bloom's Notes: William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar   Harold Bloom     244
Julius Caesar in the Twenty-first Century     247
2000-"Julius Caesar," from Shakespeare's Language   Frank Kermode     248
2002-"Sympathy for Brutus," from Shakespeare: Seven Tragedies Revisited: The Dramatist's Manipulation of Response   E.A.J. Honigmann     257
2005-"The End of the Republic: Titus Andronicus and Julius Caesar," from Shakespeare and Republicanism   Andrew Hadfield     280
Bibliography     301
Acknowledgments     305
Index     307

Editorial Reviews

The latest in Yale's "Annotated Shakespeare" series are two of the old boy's greatest hits. Besides the scholarly texts, these include lists of suggested further reading, essays, and more. Fab for the price. Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

"John Cox's edition of Julius Caesar is very user-friendly—it has copious and concise explanatory notes, generous selections from Shakespeare's sources, and a critical introduction that does a remarkable job of highlighting the main lines of interpreting the play over the centuries."

Paul A. Cantor

Gorgeous new Shakespeare paperbacks.” 
—Marlon James, author of A Brief History of Seven Killings

“I have been using the Pelican Shakespeare for years in my lecture course--it's invaluable, the best individual-volume series available for students.”
—Marjorie Garber, William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of English and Visual and Environmental Studies, Harvard University 

From the Publisher