Richard II: The Oxford Shakespeare (Oxford World's Classics)

It is a shame that Oxford couldn't be bothered to make sure that the Kindle version is formatted properly. The line numbering frequently creates a gap in the text in the middle of speeches. This shouldn't happen, especially when you pay as much of the Kindle e-text as you do for a hardcopy.

The Oxford Shakespeare edition of Richard II, the opening play of the Shakespeare's second quadrology, is very good, but not great, on Kindle.Aside from a few readability issues, there's much to recommend this edition of RII for your Kindle. For example, the editorial content is substantial and informative, and the linked in-text explanatory notes are helpful, but could have been better formatted.Still ... a very good edition of the History play for Kindle.

The authors of the introduction and the notes to this Oxford edition were clear and extremely thorough. They enhanced my understanding and enjoyment of this great play. I've read about 8 of Shakespeare's plays previously but this is the first play I've read in the history grouping. I recommend this edition to anyone with a similar background. Recently retired from a career in the business world, With more free time I am looking forward to enjoying more great works of literature (including more Shakespeare). This play and edition has been a great start.

r.i.p. richard

The Oxford Shakespeare edition of Richard II is just what I had hoped it would be. The introduction is thorough and accessible. Annotations are shown on the same page with the text to which they refer, which is my preference. Thoroughly enjoyable and well-priced.

Having the last word is often an advantage and this Oxford edition of Richard II, coming after its main rivals (Cambridge, 1984) and Arden (Arden, 2002), is consequently able to draw upon more recent research and performance. Its mention of a 2009 Vancouver production of the play (in the Commentary) and its discussion of recent books and articles (in the Introduction) make this volume very much up-to-the-minute. (Interestingly, one such book mentioned, by James Siemon, includes an ingenious interpretation of the allegorical 'garden scene', in which 'bushy' and 'green' excrescences are cut off! Two of Richard's favourites, Bushy and Green, of course, meet a similar fate under Bolingbroke.)This Introduction is especially strong on the study of history and on Shakespeare's contribution to it. Shakespeare's Richard II is often noted for its conservatism - citizens are called 'subjects' throughout and commoners are much less conspicuous than in source texts. To the Oxford authors, however, Shakespeare's play is radical. As well as being encouraged to judge sceptically for themselves, spectators are made to feel involved in England's past and, from their vantage-point in the playhouse, part of a political community. (But to suggest that the play 'makes the audience a party to the regicide' is, perhaps, to overstate the extent of audience involvement.)Section headings on, for example, language, character and stage history, make for a more conventional approach than some, but there is rewarding material in each: how the play's supposed 'stylistic unity' needs careful qualification; and how John Barton's 1973 RSC production, although 'one of the defining productions of the play of the twentieth century', continues a long tradition of rewriting and adapting - initiated by the same Nahum Tate that gave King Lear a happy ending. Several pages are devoted to Barton's often controversial interpretation which, like the Introduction itself, is concerned with how the dual identity of individual and role creates 'twinning'.In the Commentary, the authors provide accessible notes. With refreshing candour, they occasionally show that some of Richard's more extravagant metaphors are beyond the comprehension even of scholars - as with the well and two buckets image (in IV.1), described as 'somewhat confused'.

This is an excellent edition of Richard II: published in 2011, it is current and academically up to date. The introduction (c.120 pp.) is particularly full tracing as it does some of the controversies of interpretation, starting with the commissioning of its performance before the Essex 'rebellion', and Elizabeth's own assertion that 'I am Richard II, know ye not that?'.Importantly for modern readers and audiences, the introduction also explores what 'history' meant to sixteenth century audiences and how the play might be contextualised in terms of genre expectations. The section on performance history is also useful in thinking through how the play itself has travelled through history.The play-text is clear with useful on-page notes - altogether an excellent study edition with a sewn binding making this a nicely robust book.

The additional materials provide a fascinating read. I was extremely happy to find an ebook edition of the annotated version of this play, but found that the digitalisation was not very well-executed. The textual comments are accessed via links, but instead of linking specific words or phrases that the comments refer to, the ebook links line numbers (5, 10, etc.), and only if there is a comment for that specific line. A few of the links are broken, and lead to comments in a different part of the text. Starting from Act 4 the links to comments disappear altogether. This is not helpful if one is trying to read the comments alongside the text. Otherwise, very few typos that I noticed.

adequate for purpose

A very good edition of the play.

The best editions of the plays that are available.They are also properly bound - rare these days.