REED in Review : Essays in Celebration of the First Twenty-Five Years

Thirteen essays amplifying the content of selected conference papers, and a fourteenth submitted at the editors' invitation, make up __REED in Review__

In 2002, the Records of Early English Drama (REED) project marked its twenty-fifth anniversary with a special series of sessions at the International Medieval Congress at Leeds University. The REED sessions were designed to allow critical reflection on the past, present, and future of the project as it entered the twenty-first century. Thirteen essays amplifying the content of selected conference papers, and a fourteenth submitted at the editors' invitation, make up REED in Review

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Contributors to the collection describe the conception and early years of REED, assess the project's impact on recent and current scholarship, and anticipate or propose stimulating new directions for future research. Individual essays address a wide variety of subjects, from the impact of REED research on Shakespeare textual editing, Robin Hood, patronage, and Elizabethan theatre studies, to a thought provoking redefinition of 'drama,' details of recent ground-breaking research in Scottish records, and the broadening possibilities for editorial and research relationships with information technology. The editors' introduction and a select bibliography, with commentary and a list of REED-related publications by editors and scholars from a variety of disciplines, make up the remainder of this landmark volume.

Looking at five of Italo Calvino's often neglected early novels: The Young People of Po, The Cloven Viscount, The Baron in the Trees, The Non-Existent Knight, and The Watcher, Eugenio Bolongaro argues that these works, written between 1948 and 1963, contain a sustained meditation on the role of the intellectual and on the irreducible ethical and political dimension of literature. This meditation provides an insight into a crucial moment in Calvino's development as a writer, and allows Bolongaro to lay the groundwork for a more 'political' reading of Calvino's later work.Italo Calvino and the Compass of Literature firmly situates Calvino within his historical context ? the cultural revival of post-World War II Italy ? by relating these early novels to Calvino's political and critical writings which played an important role in the cultural debates of the time. This approach provides a key to understanding Calvino's work in a new light, ably demonstrating that Calvino's full literary significance cannot be understood in isolation from the politics and cultural movements of the period. One of the few book-length English-language works on Calvino's early writings, Italo Calvino and the Compass of Literatur will prove to be an indispensable tool to Italianists and literary studies scholars Looking at five of Italo Calvino's often neglected early novels: The Young People of Po, The Cloven Viscount, The Baron in the Trees, The Non-Existent Knight, and The Watcher, Eugenio Bolongaro argues that these works, written between 1948 and 1963, contain a sustained meditation on the role of the intellectual and on the irreducible ethical and political dimension of literature. This meditation provides an insight into a crucial moment in Calvino's development as a writer, and allows Bolongaro to lay the groundwork for a more 'political' reading of Calvino's later work. Italo Calvino and the Compass of Literature firmly situates Calvino within his historical context? the cultural revival of post-World War II Italy? by relating these early novels to Calvino's political and critical writings which played an important role in the cultural debates of the time. This approach provides a key to understanding Calvino's work in a new light, ably demonstrating that Calvino's full literary significance cannot be understood in isolation from the politics and cultural movements of the period. One of the few book-length English-language works on Calvino's early writings, Italo Calvino and the Compass of Literatur will prove to be an indispensable tool to Italianists and literary studies scholars Contents 7 Abbreviations 9 Introduction 11 PART 1. Foundation and Methodology 31 The Founding of Records of Early English Drama 31 Birthing the Concept: The First Nine Years 49 ‘Practice Makes Perfect’: Policies for a Cross-Disciplinary Project 62 PART 2. REED’s ‘Performance’: Impact and Response 75 Gathering in the Name of the Outlaw: REED and Robin Hood 75 What Hath REED Wrought? REED and Patronage 95 Margins to the Centre: REED and Shakespeare 111 Everything’s Back in Play: The Impact of REED Research on Elizabethan Theatre History 126 PART 3. Whither REED? 141 REED and the Record Office: Tradition and Innovation on the Road to Access 141 Roles in Life: The Drama of the Medieval Guilds 150 Crossing the Border: The Provincial Records of Southeast Scotland 167 REED and the Possibilities of Web Technologies 188 Herodotus in the Labyrinth: REED and Hypertext 210 Thinking Outside the Bard: REED, Repertory Canons, and Editing Early English Drama 226 Using REED: A Select Bibliography 246 Contributors 261 Index 265