Twelfth Night (Folger Shakespeare Library) - Softcover

Shakespeare, William

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0743482778 ISBN 13: 9780743482776

Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 2004

Named for the twelfth night after Christmas, the end of the Christmas season, Twelfth Night plays with love and power. The Countess Olivia, a woman with her own household, attracts Duke (or Count) Orsino. Two other would-be suitors are her pretentious steward, Malvolio, and Sir Andrew Aguecheek.

Onto this scene arrive the twins Viola and Sebastian; caught in a shipwreck, each thinks the other has drowned. Viola disguises herself as a male page and enters Orsino’s service. Orsino sends her as his envoy to Olivia—only to have Olivia fall in love with the messenger. The play complicates, then wonderfully untangles, these relationships.

The authoritative edition of Twelfth Night from The Folger Shakespeare Library, the trusted and widely used Shakespeare series for students and general readers, includes:

-Freshly edited text based on the best early printed version of the play

-Full explanatory notes conveniently placed on pages facing the text of the play

-Scene-by-scene plot summaries

-A key to the play’s famous lines and phrases

-An introduction to reading Shakespeare’s language

-An essay by a leading Shakespeare scholar providing a modern perspective on the play

-Fresh images from the Folger Shakespeare Library’s vast holdings of rare books

-An annotated guide to further reading

Essay by Catherine Belsey

The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC, is home to the world’s largest collection of Shakespeare’s printed works, and a magnet for Shakespeare scholars from around the globe. In addition to exhibitions open to the public throughout the year, the Folger offers a full calendar of performances and programs. For more information, visit Folger.edu.

Book Description:

Using the complete, unabridged New Cambridge Shakespeare edition text of the play, this recording of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night (available on cassette or CD) uses a full professional cast, sound effects and accompanying music. Starring Stella Gonet as Viola, with Christopher Godwin as Malvolio, Lucy Whybrow as Olivia, Jane Whittenshaw as Maria, Benjamin Soames as Sebastian and Adam Kotz as Antonio.

From the Publisher:

Set in a topsy-turvy world like a holiday revel, this comedy devises a romantic plot around separated twins, misplaced passions, and mistaken identity. Juxtaposed to it is the satirical story of a self-deluded steward who dreams of becoming "Count Malvolio" only to receive his comeuppance at the hands of the merrymakers he wishes to suppress. The two plots combine to create a farce touched with melancholy, mixed throughout with seductively beautiful explorations on the themes of love and time, and the play ends, not with laughter, but with a clown's sad song.

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0743482778
• ISBN 13: 9780743482776
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Number of pages: 272
• Editor: Mowat Dr. Barbara A., Werstine Ph.D. Paul