The Oxford Companion to Shakespeare

Second Edition

Edited by Michael Dobson, Stanley Wells, Will Sharpe, and Erin Sullivan

A wide range of short, readable entries, full of surprising amounts of detail
Covers Shakespeare worldwide and Shakespeare on film more thoroughly than any of the competition, and popular topics such as notable actors, directors, films, and pop culture
All Shakespeare's plays, and the sonnets, covered in special feature entries gathered in a central section for ease of access
Illustrated by almost 100 illuminating black and white photographs, many from classic productions
Includes a chronology, an accessible guide to further reading, a map of locations from the Histories, and a thematic contents list

New to this Edition:

New foreword by Simon Russell Beale, CBE
Almost 100 entries new to the print edition, in more than 35,000 new and revised words
Many new entries on the interpretation of Shakespeare's work in different countries and cultures, including Finland, Turkey, and Ukraine, as well as a lengthy essay on global Shakespeare
Feature entries on Shakespeare's plays and sonnets updated and gathered in a centre section for ease of access

The Oxford Companion to Shakespeare

Second Edition

Edited by Michael Dobson, Stanley Wells, Will Sharpe, and Erin Sullivan

Description

The Oxford Companion to Shakespeare is the most comprehensive reference work available on Shakespeare's life, times, works, and his 400-year global legacy. In addition to the authoritative A-Z entries, it includes nearly 100 illustrations, a chronology, a guide to further reading, a thematic contents list, and special feature entries on each of Shakespeare's works. Tying in with the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death, this much-loved Companion has been revised and updated, reflecting developments and discoveries made in recent years and to cover the performance, interpretation, and the influence of Shakespeare's works up to the present day.

First published in 2001, the online edition was revised in 2011, with updates to over 200 entries plus 16 new entries. These online updates appear in print for the first time in this second edition, along with a further 35,000 new and revised words. These include more than 80 new entries, ranging from important performers, directors, and scholars (such as Lucy Bailey, Samuel West, and Alfredo Michel Modenessi), to topics as diverse as Shakespeare in the digital age and the ubiquity of plants in Shakespeare's works, to the interpretation of Shakespeare globally, from Finland to Iraq. To make information on Shakespeare's major works easier to find, the feature entries have been grouped and placed in a centre section (fully cross-referenced from the A-Z). The thematic listing of entries - described in the press as 'an invaluable panorama of the contents' - has been updated to include all of the new entries. This edition contains a preface written by much-lauded Shakespearian actor Simon Russell Beale.

Full of both entertaining trivia and scholarly detail, this authoritative Companion will delight the browser and reward students, academics, as well as anyone wanting to know more about Shakespeare.

The Oxford Companion to Shakespeare

Second Edition

Edited by Michael Dobson, Stanley Wells, Will Sharpe, and Erin Sullivan

Contents
Foreword
Preface to the 1st edition
Preface to the 2nd edition
Acknowledgements
Contributors
Thematic listing of entries
List of plays
Note to the reader
The Oxford Companion to Shakespeare
Map of British Isles and France in English Histories and Macbeth
Family tree of the royal family in Shakespeare's English Histories
Shakespeare's life, works, and reception: a partial chronology, 1564-1999
Further reading
Picture acknowledgements

The Oxford Companion to Shakespeare

Second Edition

Edited by Michael Dobson, Stanley Wells, Will Sharpe, and Erin Sullivan

Author Information

Michael Dobson is Professor of Shakespeare Studies and Director of the Shakespeare Institute, University of Birmingham, an executive trustee of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, and an honorary governor of the Royal Shakespeare Company: his previous appointments include posts at Oxford, Harvard, the University of Illinois at Chicago and the University of London, and he has held fellowships and visiting appointments in California, Sweden and China. His publications include The Making of the National Poet (1992), England's Elizabeth (with Nicola Watson, 2002), Performing Shakespeare's Tragedies Today (2006), and Shakespeare and Amateur Performance (2011).

Stanley Wells, CBE, FRSL, is Honorary President, Life Trustee, and former Chairman of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. He was Professor of Shakespeare Studies and Director of the Shakespeare Institute, University of Birmingham, from 1988-1997, and is now Emeritus Professor. He is an Honorary Emeritus Governor of the Royal Shakespeare Company. He has been General Editor of the Oxford Shakespeare since 1978 and is General Editor of the Penguin Shakespeare. One of the most distinguished Shakespearian scholars currently working, his publications include The Oxford Dictionary of Shakespeare (1998), Shakespeare: The Poet and his Plays (2001), The Oxford Shakespeare: King Lear (2001), Shakespeare For All Time (2002), Shakespeare & Co (2006), Shakespeare, Sex, and Love (2010), Great Shakespeare Actors (2015), and Shakespeare: A Very Short Introduction (2015).

Will Sharpe is a teaching fellow at the University of Birmingham. He contributed a monograph-length study on 'Authorship and Attribution' to the RSC/Palgrave volume William Shakespeare and Others: Collaborative Plays (2013). He has prepared textual commentaries on Hamlet, Much Ado About Nothing, and Henry VIII for the New Oxford Shakespeare (2016).

Erin Sullivan is a lecturer and fellow at the Shakespeare Institute, University of Birmingham. Her research focuses on Shakespeare and the history of emotions and Shakespeare and cultural celebration. She is co-editor of The Renaissance of Emotion (Manchester, 2015), Shakespeare on the Global Stage (Arden, 2015), and A Year of Shakespeare (Arden, 2015).

Contributors:

Editorial Board
R. A. Foakes
Peter Holland
Margreta de Grazia
Dennis Kennedy

Contributors
Anne Button, University of Surrey Roehampton
Alan Brissenden, University of Adelaide
Alexa Huang, George Washington University
Alice Clark, Université de Nantes
Anthony Davies, Victoria College, Jersey
Ania Loomba, University of Pennsylvania
A. Luis Pujante, Universidad de Murcia
Andrew Murphy, St Andrews University
Alfredo Michel Modenessi, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
Arkady Ostrovsky, Financial Times
Ayanna Thompson, George Washington University
Ayse Nur Demiralp, Yeditepe University
Barbara Everett, Somerville College, Oxford
Balz Engler, University of Basel
Bernice Kliman, Nassau Community College, New York
Bradley Ryner, University of Maryland
Boika Sokolova, Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, University of London
Chris Baldick, Goldsmiths College, University of London
Charity Charity, J. Walter Thompson Advertising
Catherine Alexander, Shakespeare Institute, University of Birmingham
Cathy Shrank, University of Sheffield
Catherine Tite, University of Manchester
Chong Zhang, Fudan University
Douglas Bruster, University of Texas at Austin
Dennis Kennedy, Trinity College, Dublin
Douglas Lanier, University of New Hampshire
Diane Purkiss, Keble College, Oxford
Eric Rasmussen, University of Nevada
Erin Sullivan, Shakespeare Institute, University of Birmingham
Gabriel Egan, De Montfort University
Grace Ioppolo, Reading University
George T. Wright, University of Minnesota
Hugh Grady, Arcadia University
Qixin He, Beijing Foreign Studies University
Hanna Scolnicov, Tel Aviv University
Helen Vendler, Harvard University
Irena Cholij, New Grove Dictionary of Music
Irena Makaryk, University of Ottawa
Inga-Stina Ewbank, University of Leeds
Isabelle Schwartz-Gastine, Université de Caen
Jeremy Barlow, MA, ARCM, ARAM
Jerry Brotton, Queen Mary, University of London
Jonathan Bate, University of Oxford
Jean Chothia, Selwyn College, Cambridge
Jonathan Hope, University of Strathclyde
Jane Kingsley-Smith, University of Roehampton
Jerzy Limon, University of Gda?sk
Jean Marsden, University of Connecticut
Jean-Marie Maguin, Université de Montpellier
James Shapiro, Columbia University
Julian Bowsher, Museum of London
Kate Chedgzoy, University of Newcastle
Kate Newman, Courtauld Institute
Kenneth Parker, University of East London
Kay Stanton, California State University, Fullerton
Kiki Lindell, Lund University
Li Lan Yong, National University of Singapore
Michael Bristol, McGill University
Michael Dobson, Shakespeare Institute, University of Birmingham
Margreta de Grazia, University of Pennsylvania
Michael Holroyd
Mark Houlahan, University of Waikato
Michael Jamieson, University of Sussex
Marcus Walsh, University of Birmingham
Mairi MacDonald, Shakespeare Birthplace Trust
Michael Neill, University of Auckland
Martin Orkin, University of Haifa
Maurice Pope
Margarida Gandara Rauen, Faculdade de Artes de Parana, Curitiba
Marvin Spevack, University of Münster
Mark Thornton Burnett, Queen's University, Belfast
Martin Wiggins, Shakespeare Institute, University of Birmingham
Nely Keinanen, University of Helsinki
Nicola Watson, The Open University
Odette Blumenfeld, Al Cusa University, Tasi
Park Honan, University of Leeds
Peter Hulme, University of Essex
Panos Karagiorgos, Ionian University, Corfu
Paul Edmondson, Shakespeare Birthplace Trust
Paola Pugliatti, University of Florence
R. A. Foakes, University of California, Los Angeles
Robert Bearman, Shakespeare Birthplace Trust
Rafik Darragi, University of Tunis
Richard Foulkes, University of Leicester
Rex Gibson, Cambridge Institute of Education
Richard Johns, Courtauld Institute
Robert Smallwood, Shakespeare Birthplace Trust
Robert Maslen, Glasgow University
Robert Shaughnessy, University of Kent
Rui Carvalho Homem, University of Porto
Sarah Olive, University of York
Simon Blatherwick, Museum of London
René Weis, University College, London
Randall Martin, University of New Brunswick
Susan Brock, University of Warwick
Sonia Massai, King's College, London
Stephen Orgel, Stanford University
Steve Sohmer, Lincoln College, Oxford
Stanley Wells, Shakespeare Birthplace Trust and University of Birmingham
Ton Hoenselaars, Universiteit Utrecht
Tetsuo Kishi, Kyoto University
Tom Matheson, Shakespeare Institute, University of Birmingham
Vivian Thomas
Vivian Salmon, Keble College, Oxford
Werner Habicht, Universität Würzburg
Will Sharpe, Shakespeare Institute, University of Birmingham
Wolfgang Riehle, Karl-Franzens Universität, Graz
Younglim Han, Kyungpook National University, Korea
Yuri Cherniak
Zoltán Márkus, Vassar College
Zdenek Stríbrný, Charles University, Prague

The Oxford Companion to Shakespeare

Second Edition

Edited by Michael Dobson, Stanley Wells, Will Sharpe, and Erin Sullivan

Reviews and Awards

"The Companion is a neatly prepared one-stop shop for a wealth of basic information about Shakespeare's works, then, and now." --Kevin Curran, Studies in English Literature 1500-1900

The Oxford Companion to Shakespeare

Second Edition

Edited by Michael Dobson, Stanley Wells, Will Sharpe, and Erin Sullivan

From Our Blog

Twenty-first-century Shakespeare

Forever demanding new performers to interpret them for new audiences under new circumstances, and continuing to elicit a rich worldwide profusion of editions, translations, commentaries, adaptations and spin-offs, Shakespeare's works have never behaved like unchanging monuments about which nothing new remains to be said.

Posted on April 24, 2016

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Shakespeare and Asia

When a weary Egeon laments in the first scene of The Comedy of Errors that in quest of his lost son he has spent five years "Roaming clean through the bounds of Asia," Shakespeare is characteristically using the word only in its classical sense, to indicate the Roman province of Asia Minor, a territory roughly equivalent to that of modern Turkey. Shakespeare's sense of the geography of the rather larger area we now call Asia, like that of many fellow-Elizabethans, is more vague.

Posted on February 28, 2016

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This blasted heath ' Justin Kurzel's new Macbeth

How many children had Lady Macbeth? The great Shakespearean critic L. C. Knights asked this question in 1933, as part of an essay intended to put paid to scholarship that treated Shakespeare's characters as real, living people, and not as fictional beings completely dependent upon, and bounded by, the creative works of which they were a part.

Posted on November 29, 2015

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