Description

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.