{"footnote":"\u003Cp\u003E  Edwards\u0026rsquo;s \u003Cem class=\u0022emphasisClass\u0022\u003EShakespeare: A Writer\u0026rsquo;s Progress\u003C\/em\u003E has now appeared in paperback (Oxford, 204 pp., \u0026pound;4.95, 23 April, 0 19 289166 9). It is far from being the usual routine  survey, for Edwards is a distinguished veteran Shakespearian, who for many years has displayed much critical independence: his book is brief but useful. Another introductory volume is \u003Cem class=\u0022emphasisClass\u0022\u003EThe Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare Studies\u003C\/em\u003E, edited by Stanley Wells (Cambridge, 329 pp., \u0026pound;27 and \u0026pound;8.95, 4 December 1986, 0 521 26737 4). This is Mark 3 of the Cambridge  \u003Cem class=\u0022emphasisClass\u0022\u003ECompanions\u003C\/em\u003E, and contains chapters by well-known hands on the Life, the Thought of the Age, the Language, the Playhouse, comedy, tragedy, history, text, stage history,  and history of criticism. A distinct improvement on Mark 2. Meanwhile studies of Shakespeare\u0026rsquo;s \u003Cem class=\u0022emphasisClass\u0022\u003Enachleben\u003C\/em\u003E, like all other Shakespeare studies, continue without  remission. Notable is Jonathan Bate\u0026rsquo;s \u003Cem class=\u0022emphasisClass\u0022\u003EShakespeare and the English Romantic Imagination\u003C\/em\u003E (Oxford, 276 pp., \u0026pound;22.50, 5 June 1986, 0 19 812848 7), a study of something we  thought we knew about but largely didn\u0026rsquo;t. Richard Foulkes\u0026rsquo;s \u003Cem class=\u0022emphasisClass\u0022\u003EShakespeare and the Victorian Stage\u003C\/em\u003E (Cambridge, 311 pp., \u0026pound;30, 14 August 1986, 0 521 30110 6) is a lively  and sometimes surprising collection of essays about stage design, historical verisimilitude, Irving, Victorian interpretation, German and Italian Shakespeare, and the productions of provincial  companies more impressive and influential than we might nowadays expect.\u003C\/p\u003E\n","audio":[],"video":[]}