`In 120 pages of awesome detective work Taylor and Jowett prove
that there were interpolations after Shakespeare's death and they
were probably made by the dramatist Thomas Middleton. One can only
regard such authority with humble respect. The book is not an
entertainment, it is an excavation.'
ryan Appleyard, The Independent
`their undoubted brilliance has changed the look of things, perhaps
for ever, on the Shakespeare scene'
The Observer
'The primary strengths are meticulous attention to detail and an
admirable determination to establish authoritative texts, ... this
is a serious and scholarly study which provides much food for
editorial thought,'
Richard A. McCabe. Merton College, Oxford. Theatre Research
International. Vol 19
'The authors analyse a great mass of data clearly, logically, and
with stylistic flair. Their book contains an introduction, a
postscript, and six appendices. It will be indispensable to
scholars concerned with the textual study and editing of plays by
Shakespeare and his fellow dramatists, and useful to all who want
to extend their knowledge of theatre conditions during the period
with which it deals.'
MacD. P. Jackson, University of Auckland, Modern Language Review,
25, 1995
'a complex and carefully reasoned brief for textual emendation ...
Textual scholars and general Shakespeareans as well will want to
examine the claims closely'
Larry S. Champion, North Carolina State University, English
Studies, Vol. 76, No. 1
`It is impossible in a short review to do full justice to a book
that raises many complex and interesting issues.'
The Library
`another textual study generated from the project which gave us in
the 1980's the Oxford Complete Works and Textual Companion, as well
as the important study of he Lear variants, The Division of the
Kingdoms.'
Notes and Queries Vol 41 no 4
`the authors assemble an impressive body of textual and historical
evidence in support of their conclusion...the essays in this volume
have been long overdue...but for all serious students of
Shakespeare's text they were clearly worth the wait.'
Modern Philology
`the insights and arguments provided by Gary Taylor and John Jowett
offer fresh challenges to anyone setting out to edit any
Renaissance dramatic text ... The 'proof' which Taylor and Jowett
provide to show that Middleton and not Shakespeare wrote the
opening of the second scene of Measure for Measure is impressive:
both exhaustive and exhausting. It draws on a wide range of
statistical, bibliographical, stylistic, dramaturgical, and
historical evidence. So
cleverly do the two authors present their case that this reader was
left sensing that they had available to them an armoury which could
enable them to prove that almost any scene by anyone was written
by
someone else. If Taylor and Jowett's case is sound, we owe a
considerable debt to Middleton.'
J.G. Saunders, Chichester Institute of Higher Education, Review of
English Studies, Vol. 47, No. 186, May '96
`What it delivers is significant and important ... For the textual
scholar, but also for the literary critic, the discussions in these
essays carry implications that should not be underestimated or
ignored.'
Peter L. Shillingsburg, TEXT, Volume 9, 1997
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