3 Review(s)

The New Cambridge Shakespeare appeals to students worldwide for its up-to-date scholarship and emphasis on performance. The series features line-by-line commentaries and textual notes on the plays and poems. Introductions are regularly refreshed with accounts of new critical, stage and screen interpretations. King Edward III is a major addition to the Shakespearean canon, and is published here for the first time in an authoritative edition of Shakespeare's works. Its editor, Giorgio Melchiori, claims that Shakespeare is not the play's sole author but that he wrote a significant part of the text. The extent of his contribution is discussed in detail. Melchiori also explores the play's historical background and genesis both in the context of contemporary theatrical practice and in relation to Shakespeare's own early cycle of history plays. An extensive Appendix on the use of sources explains the stages in which King Edward III was composed.