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- Whiteley, Giles, 1981-
(författare)
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Josephine M. Guy, ed., The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde: Volume XI: Plays 4: Vera; or The Nihilist and Lady Windermere’s Fan
- 2024
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Ingår i: Victoriographies. - 2044-2416 .- 2044-2424. ; 14:2, s. 186-188
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Recension (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Oxford University Press began publishing The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde under the editorial direction of Ian Small about two decades ago. The eleven volumes released so far have revolutionised many aspects of our understanding of Wilde’s writing practice and his careful navigation of the conditions of the late-nineteenth-century literary marketplace. Appearing as volume 11 of The Complete Works, Josephine M. Guy’s Plays 4 collects Wilde’s first play, the tragedy Vera; or The Nihilist, and his first society comedy, Lady Windermere’s Fan, his first West End success. It follows three previous volumes devoted to Wilde’s drama – Joseph Donohue’s editions of Plays 1: The Duchess of Padua, Salomé: Drame en un Acte, Salome: Tragedy in One Act; Plays 2: Lady Lancing; and Plays 3: The Importance of Being Earnest. As with those previous editions, Guy has drawn on a vast number of surviving textual witnesses, including drafts, manuscripts, typescripts, and printed editions. These include evidence of Wilde’s emendations during rehearsals and illuminate his extensive revision process. Guy presents two versions of each play: a transcription of the heavily edited and revised manuscript of Vera and the 1893 Bodley Head printed version of Lady Windermere’s Fan, as well as reconstructed performance texts for each play. While Guy notes that the latter make ‘no claim to be “the” text as performed’ on the respective opening nights, the performance texts give invaluable insights into how differently the plays might have looked on stage compared to those versions generally collected, which have tended to rely on printed versions (100).
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