I heartily welcome this new edition of The Tempest. In their introduction, the editors offer a deftly balanced, deeply nuanced interpretation of the play. While fully explicating its historical context, sources, and afterlife, the editors engage deeply with the play’s ethical ambiguities. They reveal The Tempest as a canonical play that speaks powerfully to today’s social concerns about justice, memory, revenge, service, freedom, and power. As the editors put it beautifully, ‘it is a quality of great works of art that they—unlike the people who make them—grow younger, stronger, more various, and more influential as they grow older.’ Long may it be so.” — Gail Kern Paster, Director Emerita, Folger Shakespeare Library
“This stellar edition of The Tempest does an excellent job of situating the play in its historical contexts. A splendid introduction and a well-chosen set of secondary materials will give students and teachers alike a clear entry point into the play’s noted interests in political and ethical questions posed by colonial conquest and other forms of usurpation. The vivid illustrations and longer notes interspersed throughout the playtext itself offer the reader an experience unique to this edition, beautifully illuminating the importance of visual art and staged image to The Tempest, Shakespeare’s most spectacular play.” — Adam Zucker, University of Massachusetts Amherst
“Despite there being many fine editions of this play, past and present, this one is a good choice for both the classroom and the study, and one that scholars should consult when considering editing, interpreting, or teaching The Tempest, a play that has been a favourite of many… Bernard and Yachnin have produced a balanced, measured, thoughtful, scholarly, clear, and well-considered edition, and they and their publisher are to be commended.” — Jonathan Locke Hart, Renaissance and Reformation
On an uncharted, storm-swept island, the magician Prospero uses his powers and those of the flighty spirit Ariel to wreck the ship of his wicked brother, Antonio, stranding its crew and passengers. Meanwhile, through more magic, Prospero’s daughter, Miranda, has fallen in love with Ferdinand, son of the of king of Naples. This 2001 BBC Radio 3 production starring the late Philip Madoc (Prospero) and Nina Wadia (Ariel) sounds timeless in its traditional use of stage rhythms and diction. This is not an audiobook one mows the lawn to. For American ears it may take a little concentration to pick up all the words, and it may be worthwhile to read along (as this reviewer did) to maximize the pleasure of listening to one of Shakespeare’s most romantic and fanciful works. B.P. © AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine