King Lear: Parallel Text Edition

by René Weis

This reissed edition of Longman Annotated Texts King Lear includes comprehensive notes, annotations and an introduction, all designed to be of use to undergraduates and interested readers.King Lear is one of Shakespeare's most widely studied tragedies. However, since the late 1970s textual scholars, critics and editors have argued that there is no single 'King Lear' text. Anyone studying the play needs to be aware of two different texts, one based on the quarto of 1608, The History of King Lear, and a revised version published in the first folio of 1623, The Tragedy of King Lear. This edition offers a fully annotated, modern spelling version of the texts set side by side, identifying and elucidating the major discrepancies between the two. It presents some possible reasons for the differences between the two texts, which themselves shed light on a number of issues relating to literary transmission in the Renaissance and give an insight into the nature of performance and censorship.

357 pages, ebook

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

René Weis is a freelance author and Professor of English at University College London. He has a written on a wide variety of subjects, including Edith Thompson (of the infamous 'Thompson and Bywaters' murder case in the 1920s), the last Cathar insurgency in the Pyrenees in the Middle Ages, and a biography of Shakespeare. As a professional Shakespearian, he has published extensively on Shakespeare and Renaissance drama, his publications including editions of Romeo and Juliet, King Lear, Henry IV Part 2, and an Oxford World's Classics edition of the works of John Webster. A lifelong lover of opera, he also contributes regular pieces to the programmes for Royal Opera House productions.

Reviews

[Fatima Ahmed · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Allow not nature more than nature needs,
Man’s life is cheap as beasts’.”


Definitely the most tragic tragedy ever. Truly fits the idea that in a tragedy things can never go right. Some things were spoiled for me bc of a quiz I was taking, but it was still extremely tragic. Only reading it doesn’t give it the attention it deserves, but I’m a bit scared of watching an adaptaion... I definitely like Shakespeare’s comedies more, tragedies aren’t my thing. However, it’s definitely worth reading!

[sch]

The parallel edition recommended by Frank Kermode.