King Lear: 1608 and 1623 Parallel Text Edition
General Editors:Charlotte Brewer, Hertford College, OxfordH. R. Woudhuysen, University College LondonDaniel Karlin, University of Sheffield King Lear,Shakespeare’s supremely powerful exploration of kingship, family and madness, has long been acknowledged as one of his greatest works. However, the existence of the play in two distinct versions - the Quarto of 1608 and the Folio of 1623 - has also provided a fascinating puzzle for generations of scholars. How do differences in Quarto and Folio alter our understanding of the play and affect the way it is performed? Did censorship lie behind major textual absences in Folio? And what can we infer about Shakespeare’s working practices from the two versions? This edition ofKing Learprovides fully annotated, modern-spelling versions of the Quarto and Folio texts of the play, printed in parallel on facing pages. By highlighting the differences between the two versions, the reader can engage directly with the problems raised by them and consider current thinking about the play. In a closely argued introduction, René Weis re-examines the continuing textual and bibliographical debate on the relationship betweenThe History of King Lear(Q) andThe Tragedy of King Lear(F) and considers the case for and against revision. This revised and updated edition also contains an illuminating new essay in which Weis subjects a number of key Q / F variants to close palaeographic analyses, arguing that they reflect different guesses at Shakespeare’s foul papers.  René Weis is Professor of English at University College London. His most recent book isShakespeare Revealed: A Biography (2007). He is currently editing Romeo and Julietfor the Arden Shakespeare.