British & Irish, Shakespeare, English Literature 

Philip Brockbank was Director of the Shakespeare Institute at the University of Birmingham in England from 1979-1988, and General Editor of the New Cambridge Shakespeare from 1984-1990.  He wrote On Shakespeare: Jesus, Shakespeare and Karl Marx, and Other Essays and edited Players of Shakespeare 1: Essays in Shakespearean Performance.  His other publications include The Creativity of Perception: Essays in the Genesis of Literature and Art and Urban Mysteries of the Renaissance: Shakespeare and Carpaccio. The Arden Shakespeare edition of Coriolanus includes a detailed introduction to the text of the play, including the original printing, language and grammar, lineation, act and scene structure, stage-directions, and anomalies of the text, some of which are thought to indicate editorial intervention in the printing process.  Further analysis of the play's content covers the accepted date of composition and historical context for that time, sources, a discussion of tragedy, language, and a description of the play as it was produced on Shakespeare's stage and has been produced in the theater in its afterlife.  Two appendices follow The Tragedy of Coriolanus: "The Life of Caius Martius Coriolanus" from Plutarch's Lives, and an extract from Camden's Remaines. The Arden Shakespeare has developed a reputation as the pre-eminent critical edition of Shakespeare for its exceptional scholarship, reflected in the thoroughness of each volume. An introduction comprehensively contextualizes the play, chronicling the history and culture that surrounded and influenced Shakespeare at the time of its writing and performance, and closely surveying critical approaches to the work. Detailed appendices address problems like dating and casting, and analyze the differing Quarto and Folio sources. A full commentary by one or more of the play’s foremost contemporary scholars illuminates the text, glossing unfamiliar terms and drawing from an abundance of research and expertise to explain allusions and significant background information. Highly informative and accessible, Arden offers the fullest experience of Shakespeare available to a reader. - from Amzon