Scholarly debate still rages over Q1, the text of the earliest known version of Shakespeares Hamlet, which was discovered in a British mansion in 1823. In this book, author Lesser, a scholar of Renaissance drama, argues that the discovery of Q1 in 1823 has had a profound impact on our understanding of Hamlet, of Shakespeare as an author, and of the nature of the Shakespearean text, but that this impact has gone unnoticed because the discovery of Q1 doesnt fit into expected modes of historicist scholarship. He explains how Q1 challenges both traditional bibliographic scholarship and the historicist criticism that has recently dominated Shakespeare and early modern studies. B&w photos of historical texts are included. Annotation ©2015 Ringgold, Inc., Portland, OR (protoview.com)
In 1823, Sir Henry Bunbury discovered a badly bound volume of twelve Shakespeare plays in a closet of his manor house. Nearly all of the plays were first editions, but one stood out as extraordinary: a previously unknown text ofHamlet that predated all other versions. Suddenly, the world had to grapple with a radically newor rather, oldHamlet in which the characters, plot, and poetry of Shakespeare's most famous play were profoundly and strangely transformed.
Q1, as the text is known, has been declared a rough draft, a shorthand piracy, a memorial reconstruction, and a pre-Shakespearean "ur-Hamlet," among other things. Flickering between two historical momentsits publication in Shakespeare's early seventeenth century and its rediscovery in Bunbury's early nineteenthQ1 is both the first and lastHamlet. Because this text became widely known only after the familiar version of the play had reached the pinnacle of English literature, its reception has entirely depended on this uncanny temporal oscillation; so too has its ongoing influence on twentieth- and twenty-first-century ideas of the play.
Zachary Lesser examines how the improbable discovery of Q1 has forced readers to reconsider accepted truths about Shakespeare as an author and about the nature of Shakespeare's texts. In telling the story of this mysterious quarto and tracing the debates in newspapers, London theaters, and scholarly journals that followed its discovery, Lesser offers brilliant new insights on what we think we mean byHamlet.
In 1823, Sir Henry Bunbury discovered an early edition of Hamlet that radically differs from the known and celebrated version of the play. Zachary Lesser examines how this improbable discovery forced readers to reexamine accepted truths about Shakespeare as an author and the nature of Shakespeare's texts.
