The Two Noble Kinsmen

by William Shakespeare, John Fletcher, Eugene M. Waith

Overview

Based on Chaucer's Knight's Tale, The Two Noble Kinsmen was written at the end of Shakespeare's career, as a collaboration with the rising young dramatist John Fletcher. Neglected until recently by directors and teachers, the play deserves to be better known for its moving dramatization of the conflict of love and friendship. This new edition, compiled by distinguished scholar Eugene M. Waith, offers helpful new material on the play's authenticity as a work of Shakespeare, his collaboration with Fletcher, the relevance to the play of the contemporary ideals of chivalry and friendship, and its limited but increasing stage history. Based on the Quarto of 1634, Waith's edition also sets out to clarify the stage directions, address problems of mislineation, and provide useful guides to unfamiliar words, stage business, allusions, and textual problems.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780198129394
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	09/28/1989
Series:	The ^AOxford Shakespeare
Pages:	242
Product dimensions:	5.62(w) x 8.87(h) x 0.81(d)
Lexile:	1330L (what's this?)

About the Author

William Shakespeare was born in April 1564 in the town of Stratford-upon-Avon, on England’s Avon River. When he was eighteen, he married Anne Hathaway. The couple had three children—an older daughter Susanna and twins, Judith and Hamnet. Hamnet, Shakespeare’s only son, died in childhood. The bulk of Shakespeare’s working life was spent in the theater world of London, where he established himself professionally by the early 1590s. He enjoyed success not only as a playwright and poet, but also as an actor and shareholder in an acting company. Although some think that sometime between 1610 and 1613 Shakespeare retired from the theater and returned home to Stratford, where he died in 1616, others believe that he may have continued to work in London until close to his death.

Barbara A. Mowat is Director of Research emerita at the Folger Shakespeare Library, Consulting Editor of Shakespeare Quarterly, and author of The Dramaturgy of Shakespeare’s Romances and of essays on Shakespeare’s plays and their editing.

Paul Werstine is Professor of English at the Graduate School and at King’s University College at Western University. He is a general editor of the New Variorum Shakespeare and author of Early Modern Playhouse Manuscripts and the Editing of Shakespeare and of many papers and articles on the printing and editing of Shakespeare’s plays.

Date of Death:

2018

Place of Birth:

Stratford-upon-Avon, United Kingdom

Place of Death:

Stratford-upon-Avon, United Kingdom

Table of Contents

Introduction: authorship; Date; Sources; Craftsmanship; Critical reception; Shakespeare's late style; The Two Noble Kinsmen in performance; Note on text; List of characters; The play; Supplementary notes; Textual analysis; Appendix: The Two Noble Kinsmen: a performance chronology; Reading list.

Editorial Reviews

Praise for The Oxford Shakespeare: "Not simply a better text but a new conception of Shakespeare. This is a major achievement of twentieth-century scholarship."—Times Literary Supplement

"Easy reading...first-class 20th century footnotes...and lots of relevant scholarship for practical stage usage. Congratulations."—Joseph Papp

"Sets a very high standard in the preciseness and thoroughness of its commentaries."—Times Higher Education Supplement

"Provides the last word in editions currently before the public."—John Barkham Reviews

"Will certainly have to be reckoned with whenever one is choosing an edition to recommend for study."—English

From the Publisher