Lukas Erne's Shakespeare as Literary Dramatist.(Book Review)

This is the latest among the many original books on Shakespeare published by Cambridge University Press (2003). Before discussing Erne's many new and heterodox ideas about Shakespeare as a "literary" (rather than purely theatrical) dramatist, it is worth noting how well this volume is written and how wide-ranging its scholarship is. Erne attacks many of the most cherished assumptions of the New Bibliography, especially memorial reconstruction and the origin of the "Bad Quartos," but he is scrupulous in exploring his argument and in citing his sources, especially those with which he disagrees. He relies heavily on the research findings of Peter Blayney, especially as summarized in his article, "The Publication of Playbooks," in John D. Cox and David Scott Kastan, A New History of Early English Drama. Erne takes seriously …