The New Oxford Shakespeare Project at IUPUI

Abstract

Because Shakespeare is the world’s most canonical and most commercially successful secular author, his works have been edited more than any other author. Editions of Shakespeare’s canon are usually based on commercial incentives rather than scholarly preparation; as a result, most editions re-package older ones and do not strive to rethink previous editing in light of more recent scholarship about the Shakespeare canon. The New Oxford Shakespeare editors, staff, and student assistants, however, are revisiting and rethinking the Shakespeare canon from the ground up. Due for publication in October 2016, this exciting new edition of Shakespeare’s Complete Works features the collaborative efforts of an international team of scholars, editors, and IUPUI faculty and students – working alongside each other over a seven year term on IUPUI’s campus. The research involved in this project is cutting edge and completely new to the discipline. We work from archived original printed texts (no manuscript in Shakespeare’s hand exists), and because we are creating the first multi-format, multi-platform Shakespeare edition in history, we approach the work from a three-tiered paradigm, including pedagogy, theatre practice, and computational stylistics. The completed five-volume edition will give readers deeper and multifaceted access to all of Shakespeare’s works: the traditional canon, alternative texts, and collaborative texts. Aiming to satisfy the needs of different users, an old spelling edition will preserve spelling, punctuation, and layout of the earliest texts while a Modern Spelling Edition will utilize recent pedagogical innovations to serve as a 21st century classroom text. The New Oxford Shakespeare will make Shakespeare more accessible to 21st century readers by engaging them through multiple editions and multiple types of media. The New Oxford Shakespeare will empower teacher-scholars to demonstrate Shakespeare’s work in performance and in process. We are the new face of Shakespeare.