The taming of the shrew /

This valuable book "offers students historical avenues of approach to Shakespeare as well as Shakespearean avenues of approach to social history." Besides providing the complete text of The Taming of the Shrew (edited and copiously footnoted by David Bevington), Dolan (Miami Univ.) has collected a wide range of primary historical documents. For example, she offers excerpts from T.E.'s "The Law's Resolution of Women's Rights" (1632), Gouge's "Domestical Duties: Eight Treatises" (1634), and Whately's "Bride-Bush" (1623). This intertextual constellation interrogates the construction of gender in Renaissance culture and will foster heated debates about "marriage, women, and domesticity." Dolan makes these texts accessible by modernizing and standardizing spelling, punctuation, and paragraphs. Finally, this comprehensive literary storehouse includes seven pages of bibliographic information (primary and secondary sources), 16 illustrations, and insightful commentary introducing the book and accompanying the historical texts. This reviewer eagerly anticipates similar editions from this publisher. J. S. Carducci Winona State University

A comedy and drama about strained marital relations get Yale's red-carpet treatment. Each volume contains an essay by Harold Bloom and other extras. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.